Looking back might be a good place to gander at.
I've been in the present and what is going on right now. Which is not a bad place to be. And I've been struggling and wrestling with the future. Which I know will work its way out. But, I stopped today to take a gander at the past. Which for some would be a good thing and maybe for others not so much.
What caused me to look over my shoulder was my son's hair cut. At the salon I was asked if I wanted a hair cut. Yes, I acknowledge I have hair but, to cut it would most likely leave me bald and I've already worn that look. So it amused me to no end. And as I sat there waiting for my son to get his locks whacked off, I was reminded of a Barbie doll I had when I was a girl.
It was Barbie with growable hair. Kind of. She had a hole in the top of her head and a pony tail hanging out. You could yank on the pony tail and make it longer. And then yank on it again and it would wind itself back into the hole in her head and be short. Remember that Barbie? Anyone?
Well, after I obtained my hair growing Barbie, the growing abilities lasted about 2 1/2 minutes because just how did that work. Pop. Off with her head promptly. And then well, inside was a cheap ass spring loaded pulley thinging and pony tail attached by dental floss. The whole thing didn't work well after that. And at some point I wasn't happy with the length of her pony tail. I remember that no matter how much yanking I did I just couldn't get it that perfect length. So I cut it. Then cut it more. And finally I remember getting fixated again on the workings of the thing. Pop off with her head and the dental floss got so dangled up I ended up cutting that. Oops. There went the pony tail all together. So now I had a Barbie with a hole in the top of her head. Which I discovered allowed you to fill Barbie's head with all kinds of things. Tiny beads. Sand. Oh you could put flowers in the hole and have them sticking out of her head. Yes. That was best. Flower head Barbie.
And I was a Barbie girl. Barbie's dream house. Barbie's dream car. Skipper. And Ken.
Ken, Ken, Ken. Polyester jumpsuit, ascot sporting Ken. Disappointing boyfriend really because Ken, well Ken was lacking in some serious ways as far as I and my other Barbie and Ken owning girlfriends were concerned. And when it came to Ken there was one thing that we were concerned with. Where was Ken's parts.
One of us girls would get a new Ken doll for our birthday or Christmas. We would meet over at someone's house. New Ken doll clutched in owners hand. We would all sit around and anticipate the grand unveiling. The owner of the doll would do the honors. And....pull down the pants. And then...disappointment. Awwww man. Where's the goods. We were robbed. It's not fair. Barbie has boobs, where's Ken's equipment. It was sad. Not even a bulge was to be found. And the injustice of it all.
Then one of my friends, her brother got a GI Joe action figure (because boys don't have dolls) for his birthday. And she got us all together. This was GI Joe. No polyester sporting ascot wearing wimp. He wore camafloge, combat boots, had machine guns and drove a Jeep. Yes, this was a man. AND and....this one. This GI Joe doll had chest hair!! Not imprinted into the plastic chest hair. We are talking series of holes punctured into the plastic chest wall and plastic fake hair glued into each hole. Chest hair.
So when her brother left to go to little league practice we went into his room and retrieved GI Joe. We sat around. Oh the anticipation. Said sister had the honors of the unveil as we chanted, take them off, take them off. All that was lacking was koolaide filled cups with drink umbrellas and our fists clutching monopoly money to throw at GI Joe. Finally the unveil. AND. Yep. Disappointment. Nada. GI Joe was not manly after all. And we were outraged. And decided he didn't deserve his manly chest hair. We took tweezers and pluck his chest hair out. Why? I guess outraged disappointed little girls can be vindictive.
In the end the brother was beside himself. The parents bought him a new GI Joe and said sister had to pay for it out of her allowance over time.
So look over your shoulder. Remember a little ridiculous whimsy. And share.
Remember what shaped you.
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