Apparently there’s this ad going around asking people what their favorite Barbie memory is. Naturally it got me thinking and my first thought was that I was allowed to watch WAY too many soap operas as a child. My second thought is that it’s no wonder I grew up to be a writer!
To be fair, my sisters and I only watched soaps during the summer and, as far as I can remember, we would sneak into the kitchen and watch them with the babysitter. One of my sisters would have to correct me, I can only vaguely remember summers spent with Patch and Kayla.
So, it should surprise no one that some of my Barbie memories are a little… er… odd and complex. Let’s just say that I remember one time when Barbie and some Kens went camping (naturally in the Barbie dream motorhome which I think my mom still has down in her basement) and one of the Barbies was kidnapped and when she came back she had amnesia and was pregnant but no one knew who the father was.
It probably never helped that one of our Barbies was the “kissing Barbie” where you could press a square in her back and she’d make kissy noises (when we needed a Barbie to move in on a married Ken, she was usually our go-to girl.) Of course, she did lose most of her hair in some sort of tragic incident that probably also included amnesia…
Seriously, these were the stories we came up with. And just to implicate her, my middle sister (older than I am) was totally involved in helping come up with these plot line.
One year, as my Christmas present, my dad finished off the little attic under the eves to be my own private playroom. It was a secret playroom that you could only get to through a secret door at the back of my closet (how cool is that!?). And what was at the end of the room?
It was a total Barbie paradise. There was room for everyone, the Barbies without hair, their horses, the Kens, the Barbies with their ball gowns. Oh… the ball gowns. My mom would pick out the most exquisite gowns for them as Christmas presents.
So those are my Barbie memories off the top of my head. I’m sure my sister remembers more of the juicy stuff. Ah, good wholesome family fun 🙂
You were clearly a budding plot-builder. Too funny. I spit tea on my keyboard. If you haven’t thanked your parents for launching you on your career, now’s the time. A secret place to daydream is the best, best, gift.
I was kind of dirty with my Barbie’s, and called it “honeymooning”. My mom caught me making my dolls “honeymoon” one day and instituted a No-Ken rule in my bedroom. Um, hello, flat-as-as-pancake, kid-sister Skipper with her head shaved passes as a very convincing boy doll…
Duh!
I couldn’t agree more Kathleen — and I did a lot of daydreaming in that little room!
AAAAHAHAHAHAH Kimberly that cracked me up!! No Ken in the bedroom rule – ha!! Oh that whole story is awesome.
Hi. I just picked the winner for your book:http://sharonlovesbooksandcats.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-holiday-giveaway-winner.html
Wow- so there are others out there…
My sister and I used to create elaborate plots loosely based on Charlie’s Angels / Fantasy Island, where there was inevitably some kind of scantily-clad, undercover hijinx involving model horses.
We always made “Miss America” play the evil madame, and Johnny West the bumbling, inept guy- really evilness didn’t matter in his case, just a foil. Ahh memories… Great post! Thanks!
So – despite the fact that Sharon /looks/ like a nice person, she is evil evil evil.
My little sister and I totally soap-opera-ed our Barbies – husband (ie, Ken) stealers; Barbie & the Rockers who argued over who the lead singer got to be and had to undergo extensive auditions to determine who was best; sisters who died only to come back to life thanks to a duplicate brain from their long-lost twin.
Good times.
My cousin Lauren had that Barbie house! My parents couldn’t afford it and I remember being so upset. Such silliness.
Love your blog Kathleen….I had kissing barbie as well and ironically she had a mohawk on the side of her head (as if she had some brain surgery) I was convinced back then that you cut the hair and it WOULD eventually grow back!. Elaborate plots as well with my barbie’s…when they would get pregnant we would shove a bunch of their close under them so they’d have “the bump”…since I only had two Kens (blonde and brunette) and 6 barbie’s there was alot of boyfriend/husband stealing! I always had Skipper running away because with all the drama no one paid attention to her….she was “too young to understand”
omggggggggggggg when i saw this pic.. omgg i almost cried it was just like mine~~ i use to loveeeeeee barbies and that house was my own world
I feel so much better knowing that I was not the only "soap opera" Barbie player out there! My friend Amy and I played Barbies as a never-ending, ongoing telenovela, in which the characters had affairs, were under psychiatric care, plotted to break up marriages, got pregnant out of wedlock (with the help of a rubber bouncy ball that was the perfect size to replicate a 9th month belly on a Barbie doll), and committed heinous crimes. It was AWESOME, and our mothers were often worried about us. 🙂