Why Does A Tragedy Remind Us of What is Important?

So yesterday I found out that one of my best friends passed away. She was an amazing person who was kind, caring, brave, and lived life to the fullest. She packed so much into her 27 and touched so many people. She lit up a room with her laughter and personality.

I’m sharing this not to try and get responses out of you or fishing for anything, but after the denial of it, the anger at the person who caused this, I became angry at myself. I wish I had done more with her. I wish I had given her more time instead of letting life get in the way. I wish I had been more adventurous, didn’t worry so much about money, and gone on trips with her as she invited me to. But I can’t.

I worked with grieving people for years and I wish that I remembered:

Don’t let life get in the way, don’t let it keep you from making those relationships and spending that time with the people you care about.

I’m a Barbie Girl

So today marks the 60th anniversary of Barbie! I am so excited as I love Barbie!

I know a lot of people complain about Barbie but I loved her. I used to save up my money and go buy new ones-I had a giant collection of them.

I never felt Barbie projected a bad image, I thought she was awesome as she was everything-and that I could be too.

Each one of my Barbies had their own name and personality, and did everything you could imagine. You see, I wanted to do and be everything-as a child I switched from day to day what kind of thing I wanted to do as a “grown up”. I don’t have all mine with me, they are in storage-for if I have kids one day-so here are all I can remember off the top of my head:

• Corduroy Cool Barbie-I really wanted the Daphne doll as I was such a big Scooby-Doo fan, but my mother couldn’t buy it as it was too expensive. Instead I got this doll, who I named Linda, and she was a private eye. Often I would put the scarf around her head or neck as part of her disguise.
• Teen Skipper: All Grown Up-She was my first doll and first Skipper doll, so she was the only one who kept the “Skipper” name. She was a teenager so she didn’t have a profession, but I do remember putting all those stickers on the headboard of my bed.
• Western Stampin’ Barbie-I really wanted to be a cowgirl when I was little and loved Dolly Patron. This one was Dolly, named after the sing-a country singer, rancher, and a ribbon winning rodeo queen.
• CEO Barbie-Her name was Wendy and she was CEO of a stationary company. This doll was cool as it came with a CD-Rom that let you make your own calendars, stationary, and design other paper products.
• Fashion Designer Barbie– Her name was Ashley, after my best friend, and she created cool, comfortable, and stunning clothes.
• Pilot Barbie–Spring was the pilot of Barbie Air and went all over the world. Once her plane even crashed and we needed to solve a mystery of who sabotaged the plane and killed a passenger.
• Totally Yoyo Skipper-I can’t remember what I called her, but she was the Yoyo champion of the world. That is until she was in a car accident and lost her hand (we got a new dog who ate it). Even though she faced tragedy, she never gave up but figured out a way to continue her dream.
• Cool Blue Barbie and Extreme Green Skipper– I think it was because they wore overalls, but I had the Barbie, who’s name was Julie, and her daughter, Janey, own their own contracting company. They would paint houses, fix any hardware issues, and were basically mechanics (even though that doesn’t fall under contracting. Hey I was a little girl-I didn’t know.)
• Birthday Party Barbie– Brittany was a party planner, birthdays being her specialty. As her lips were permanently fixed in that expression, she was also a part time lip model.
• Kitty Fun– Kathryn, (named after another best friend) was a teenage cat trainer.
• Glam ‘n Groom Barbie & Teresa– I received these two for my birthday one year. This was my first Teresa doll so she stayed with that name, while Barbie was Katrina. The two had an animal grooming business and had gone to school in Paris (because of the ruffles and tutu clothes.) I was heartbroken when my friend’s sister broke my Teresa doll. After her death, Katrina kept up the business, hiring Kathryn to help out.
• Jewel Teresa– My friend’s mom bought me a new Teresa to replace the one broken. I LOVED this Teresa as to me this Teresa looked like me. Teresa was Latino, like me, and had dark hair with lighter skin-like me. It was wonderful having something like that after being bullied by others for not “looking Mexican enough”. This became my favorite doll of all.
• Generation Girl Barbie– Her name was Gina and she wanted to be a director. She wrote and filmed her own movies; sometimes acting as well.
• Generation Girl: Dance Party Barbie– Sister of Gina, named Gia, she wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic, Vogue, or Life Magazine. Until then, she would photograph still lifes, her family, friends, and worked on the school yearbook.
• Generation Girl Tori– Tori was the national skateboard champion, and roller skated for fun. She was also a track star and excelled at all sports.
• Secret Messages Barbie: Leah was a teen who loved mysteries and spy stories. She wanted to be a writer or FBI agent.
• Sleeping Beauty Barbie– I fangirled so hard after watching the commercial for this doll. I loved Sleeping Beauty but there was nothing, no merch at all. Every year my Grandma used to give us $25 dollars for Christmas, which was a lot for pastor’s kids who never received allowance. I knew it was coming and begged and begged my mom to let me open it early and buy this doll. No dice. As soon as I opened the envelope on Christmas I constantly nagged my mom to take me to the store and buy it, but the answer was no again. The next day I woke up at the crack of dawn and continued to beg her to take me to the store. She agreed and we went to Walmart. I still remember running through the store, my mom tailing after me as I’m searching for the doll-of which there were only three on the shelf, grabbing it and trying to run to a cashier. After that I could not stop playing with it, and even had it sleep by my pillow.
• Beyond Pink-This was the only Barbie I called Barbie as that was also her stage name. International Rock Star, singer, songwriter, lead guitarist, and grammy winning star. I remember being so jazzed about this as it came with the cassette Think Pink. I think I annoyed everyone in my family playing this over and over again.
• Twirlin’ Makeup Barbie: Brenda, the beautician and owned her own salon.
• The Front Window Barbie– Collector’s Barbie and one my mom gave me when she knew I was old enough to understand this wasn’t for playing with. I named her Susan after Susan B. Antony, my hero.

I had a lot more, but if I keep going-I’ll be writing all night and the next day. My Barbies solved crimes, went camping, took trips around the world, got stranded on an island, reenacted all kinds of movies, were spies, superheroes, stumbled onto smugglers, were pirates, and more.

For someone growing up and the world saying you are limited in your choices, it was great having someone telling-you can be anything you want to be.

Happy 60th Barbie, Here’s to 60 More!

For more Barbie, go to I Made You A Bummed Out Box: Gone Glitter Part I, Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse (2012)

For more anniversaries, go to Maybe Christmas, He Thought, Doesn’t Come from a Store. Maybe Christmas…Perhaps…Means a Little Bit More: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Very Busy Blogger

 

So sorry about my lack of posting. I feel like I have had no time at all.

It seems as if all my spare time is taken up with work,

Getting everything together for Summer Reading:

And having to be flexible when things don’t go according to plan:

Maintaing friendships:

I had some family visiting, they left, and now more family is visiting:

And every weekend it seems like it is someone’s birthday or birthday party.

Yay!

So I’m just a bit stretched right now, if only there was more time in the day.

So I will try to keep to regular posting, but more than likely I will have to slow down and take some time off.

I know it will be hard for you all:

But I won’t be gone forever. I have my annual anniversary post tomorrow, and then will be posting next week.

But then in August I will have to take another week off for:

After that, things should go back to normal.

We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

So I’m sure some of you might be wondering what happened to my posting this weekend. Was I kidnapped?

Was I attacked by Vampires?

Did I have to save the world from total destruction?

Well actually none of the above. I just had a really packed weekend and didn’t have time to do any blogging.

I had some things that I was going to work on to post while I was away doing other things, but it just didn’t work out as planned. After all, life rarely ever does.

I haven’t skipped a weekend like that in a long time.

Well I am back now and have quite a few ideas floating around just waiting to be posted.

Resurrection Sunday

I hope you all have a great Sunday!

“There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.”

“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” -Matthew 28:2-7

For the previous Easter post, go to The Lamentation of Christ

For more on Easter Sunday, go to Easter Risings