Sunday, January 22, 2012

Childhood Revisited, Or: The One That Got Away

Having been a child of the 80s, I owned a Cabbage Patch Doll.  Several, in fact.  My collection began with one that looked like me--brown hair, blue eyes.  I LOVED her.  Others were adopted as well: a preemie with her little spot of hair, and even a set of twin boys, although they were the last ones to join the family, because I had moved on and dolls were now just taking up room on my bookshelves.  Looking back, I can see I was a bibliophile in the making!

I thought of my dolls through the years, and I even went to Babyland General in Cleveland, GA.  There they have the original "soft-sculpture" dolls that are entirely handmade and cost around $250 or more.  It's a LOT of fun, even for adults who have no intention of buying one, so I do recommend making the trip once.

Life went on.  In 2005, we decided it was time to expand our family from 2 to 3.  While playing around online, dreaming of having a beautiful baby girl "one day," I found something awesome--a Cabbage Patch "Re-root."  This is when someone has cleaned a Cabbage Patch orphan up, given her new hair--usually incredibly awesome yarn hair!--and selling them on eBay.  I was THRILLED!  One day soon, I was going to be pregnant, what better present to buy than what made me happy as a child.  (Obviously, putting the money into a savings account makes a lot more sense in hindsight....)

An adorable little girl with cute snazzy-colored braids and blue eyes now had a new home--but for some reason, I ended up giving the doll to my sister-in-law.  Now, I love my SIL, I do, but I have absolutely no idea why I gave my doll away.  She ended up passing the doll on to a little girl that needed it, and I love knowing that--the love of a child is different from the love of adult, and that sweet Cabbage Patch doll ended up in the right place. But she was the one for me that became "The One Who Got Away."

I've thought of that doll through the years since, and maybe 2 or 3 times a year I've halfheartedly checked eBay for other Re-roots.  Today, for the first time, I found more!
Pink Curls!
White Braids--How cool!

Aren't they freaking ADORABLE!?  Unfortunately, none are available--but I am very happy to know that someone has made some more.  

No way.............they have Strawberry Shortcake dolls too!!!!!!  And Build-A-Bears, although the decision has been made to not allow any more of those into the house....  (We are a little out-of-control in that area, but we also usually buy 2 new friends this time of the year for James's birthday.....) :(

Check out The Patch Boutique!  Maybe they have what you've been looking for too!







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