My sister might not have understood…
JAY and I are four years apart in age. But there were times growing up where it felt like there were forty years separating us.
A fourth grader at Craig Hill school in Greece, there was nothing I dreamed of more than getting my own Cabbage Patch Doll. Those magical little ones, that literally were born out of a cabbage, did much to confuse my understanding of how babies were made. Not even the all-girls “health class” discussion in fifth grade did much to ease my fears about the true contents of cole slaw.
Like Lay’s– Cabbage Patch dolls could not be had in quantities of one. Once I had my first butt-tatooed doll, I had to have more. That Christmas, Santa heard my prayers and delivered to me TWO more vegetable-produced children, a stroller, and a crap load of clothes.
But “having” a Cabbage Patch Doll wasn’t all fun and games. Adopting my eventual five kids was a lesson in swearing in front of a witness (my mom) and my first foray into signing a legally binding document. Don’t try to tell me it wasn’t real, I still have the official certificate from Xavier Roberts.
Well my fellow children of the 80’s, Cabbage Patch Dolls have turned 25 and there are year long celebrations planned.
And while I don’t feel old enough to have a “family” of five 25 year olds—I have gotten over my aversion to cole slaw…
Filed under: Growing Up
