Dollies

See? Adorable!

How come my sister had one?!

Why couldn’t I have one?!

Life isn’t fair!!!

Maybe I should explain . . .

The Christmas I was one, my big sister got a doll.

Well, to be honest, so did I.

But hers was amazing.

Dressed in a gorgeous pink satin dress with tiny white socks and adorable little shoes, she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She had Auburn hair, like my sister and a cute little face with eyes that opened and shut.

AND SHE COULD WALK!!!

No word of a lie. If you held onto her hands, she could walk!

She was perfect.

Now, I must admit that I recognized none of this when the doll first appeared in our household.

My recognition of her perfection happened a few years later.

When I discovered this treasure sitting in lonely glory on my sister’s bed.

Did I mention lonely?

Now there’s something I should probably point out here: there were two things I could not stand to see when I was little.

1.      A naked doll. (Just imagine how cold they must be!)

2.      A lonely doll. (Oh, the poor thing!)

Okay, yes, I had issues, but I was nothing if not sympathetic. A lonely doll was just asking to be played with. Even if one had been told – many times – to LEAVE MY DOLL ALONE IT'S JUST TO LOOK AT!!!

Pfff. That was just silly. Why would anyone have a toy they didn't play with?!

I scoped out the neighbourhood, than scooped the treasure off the bed and proceeded to walk her all over.

Do you know how many baby steps it was from one side of my sister’s room to the other?

A lot.

We played happily for some time.

Or at least until discovered by my sister.

Usually said discovery was in the form of: “Mom! Diane’s got my doll again!”

Whereupon (good word) I would answer from somewhere under the bed: “Do not!”

This went on for months.

Until I discovered that one could actually buy horse models.

Of every colour and breed.

And in all different sizes.

After that, my sister’s little beauty remained in lonely glory on the bed.

And the sisterly conversation in her room changed to: “Mom! Diane’s got her horses all over my floor again!”

And me, again from under the bed: “Do not!”

Sigh.