My Life and Dreams

Friday, July 17, 2020

October 15, 2016- More Toys and Childhood Fun-Part 2

I had plastic tea set (Nursery rhyme character – Little Boy Blue?), Pluto, Aimee (I am pretty sure that this is the name of Holly Hobbie’s friend), Kathy, and a few other dolls. Two of them were named after family friends, Gina and Kerri. Mom had to buy me a new one of the latter because she got ruined when I accidentally dropped her in the tub. I also had a big red-headed doll that wore my old clothes.

I loved my handmade doll clothes- 2 Barbie dresses made by either Fran or Donna, or perhaps both of my cousins. Aunt Ann made the Barbie wedding dress and a coat for my Cabbage Patch Kid. Mom made a few items for my Kerri doll.

Mike had 2 cowboys that looked alike and were pretty heavy that he got from Helen J. He called them Nick and Ben after our twin uncles. One day he accidentally hit me in the face with one of them and it knocked out my baby tooth.

I had the Barbie camper. Mike had a Tonka fire truck and a car that I’m almost certain was a Camaro; my Barbies fit into this. My dream car of the 1980s was either this or a Trans Am. I have a picture of me in a Trans Am which was on display at the World of Motion in EPCOT Center in 1983.

He didn’t have Legos until the mid-80s. I have a funny photo of him and Tony sitting at our kitchen table playing with them. He won a nice Pink Panther stuffed animal at Kathy’s church carnival around the same time period. He regrets getting rid of it. He does still have the Wile E Coyote that he won either down the shore or at a carnival.

I have a stuffed Benji that Aunt Joan got for me. Our Ginger looked a little like that doggie. Grandma Next Door gave me a teddy bear for my first birthday. I’m glad that I kept these. One of our oldest stuffed animals is a tiger from the mid-60s. She was the mother to my Lilly, who was a victim of my possessions purge- the late 80s edition.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for getting rid of my stuffed animal friends. Poor Mrs. Raccoon no longer has her husband and daughter Raquel (I got her from our grade school’s fund raising Farmco kit) because of this. Mike would say that they are just stuffed animals and put me down for getting emotional about this.