5. Write about a favorite childhood toy.
Maria was my Mom’s homemade attempt at a Cabbage Patch Kid and bless her heart…Maria wasn’t quite what I had in mind.
I wanted a REAL Cabbage Patch Kid. I watched a movie about a Cabbage Patch Kid with adorable red pigtails who was looking for her forever home. When she was finally adopted her new parents scooped her into their arms and she fit perfectly…just a perfect little ball of Cabbage Patch heaven.
I wanted THAT one.
I knew the best way to get whatever I wanted was to talk about it incessantly. I would dream out loud about my longing desire for that perfect red-headed bundle…ooohhhh how I longed to have her for my own….ohhhh how Maria needed a sister….ohhhh how I would never be whole again until that precious Cabbage Patch Kid was home with me. Oooohhhhh how my heart ached…
I would talk and talk and talk and when other children would get distracted by a new desirable toy, I kept talking about the one.
I remember the day vividly. I have no idea where my sisters and brothers were, but I was alone with Mom and she had to stop at Sears. The checkout counter was surrounded by Cabbage Patch dolls. I walked around the perimeter of the counter and was met with this same face:
Searching…searching….searching…until ALAS, the diamond in the rough….I had found her at long last:
Heart pounding, I grabbed the box and rushed to Mom’s side. I showed her the treasure. I held the little girl I had been longing for out for my Mom to see. My every dream rested on the tip of my mother’s tongue.
Please???
May I???
Oh please???
I may.
I may!
I MAAAYYYY!!!!!!!
This was unprecedented!! Mom NEVER bought us toys without a specific reason.
N.E.V.E.R.
She loved me. She really really loved me. It was better than Christmas. It was better than a birthday. My Mom bought me a doll (an expensive one at that) just. for. me. Because she loved me the most.
I rushed home and showed everyone the new addition to my little family. I thought long and hard over the perfect name for such a perfect doll and after much deliberation decided on Gretal.
Gretal.
Rolls off the tongue perfectly.
I loved her with every fiber of my being until her head off.
It was an unfortunate incident where my sister and were playing ‘little orphan Annie’ with Gretal, tugging at each of her arms until Gretal couldn’t take it anymore and her head rolled right off. I don’t recall that ever happening to Annie!
I was devastated.
Mom said Dad would fix her and I cradled little Gretal’s head in my arms waiting for my dad to get home from work.
He took Gretal down to his shop (the surgery room) while I nervously anticipated the outcome. Would she be the same? Would she recognize me?
When he handed her to me, after what felt like hours, she had a thick black plastic strip poking out from her neck and my Dad said,
“that dolls heads not ever gonna fall off again…”
I don’t know what he did to her, but he was right about that. Gretal’s head would not budge. Perfect again (minus the collar), she lived a very long and healthy life and was eventually replaced with a puppy.
Now it’s your turn!
Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!
The Prompts:
1. List 7 things you would do this summer if you had the time and money to do them.
2. Book review!
3. Write a blog post inspired by the word: work
4. Share a memorable dream.
5. Write about a favorite childhood toy.
John Holton says
For some reason, I thought the Cabbage Patch dolls were given names at the factory, things like “Bonnie Beth” and “Archie John”. Around the time they were popular, I was one of the people that worked on the Parish Carnival and remember them buying several of them.
How did your father put the head back on, with electrical tape?
Mama Kat says
I think he somehow zip tied her head to her body. It was a really sturdy plastic and I remember the end poking out of her neck. Not all heroes wear capes!
Abby says
I’m curious now, too, of how your dad surgically reattached Gretal’s head.
But I do remember being obsessed with a specific toy – a specific doll. You hit the jackpot accompanying your mom to Sears that day!
Mama Kat says
To this day it feels like a dream…did she actually purchase a doll for me willy nilly?? It was really out of character. :)