Thursday, June 18, 2009

Misty Water Colored Naked Barbie Memories Light the Corners of my Mind

We officially became homeowners once again on Monday although we're not actually living in the house yet. Most of our belongings are still in transit from the UK. Six years ago we waved goodbye to many of our possessions as they were sent off to storage. Yesterday that container was delivered to our new house.

My husband and I had talked for weeks about what in the world was in that container. We remembered it as a small amount but the moving company informed us it was 7500 pounds so apparently alot more went into storage than we remember. We knew there would be some furniture...our white couch that serves up great naps, our practically new pool table which is now six years old but barely used, a few appliances...Hello Kitchen Aid mixer-Oh how I've missed you! We were prepared to see these items once again and to face a lot of junk too. I mean, if you've lived without something for six years how badly can you need it?


What we were not prepared for was the walk down memory lane straight thru the childhood days of our daughters. It began when I innocently opened a box marked linens only to find a small basket of naked barbies (are there any other kind?). These were the 'bathtub barbies' and many a happy bathtime was spent with these dolls deep in conversation. Sigh. In a box of tools my husband stumbled across a sweet little diaper bag filled with Bitty Baby accessories. There was the overhead projector Daughter2 asked for on her 10th birthday (her desire to be a teacher started very early). There were enough American Girl dolls and furniture to possibly require their own bedroom (thank you Mema). And inside what used to be our games cabinet...a small poster written in a child's hand that read, "Don't just stop and wave, Stop and buy some koolaid". Gulp. There were field hockey sticks and hula hoops, a soccer ball, a sled, roller blades for little feet, even all the camping gear took us back to the days of little girls. Little girls who sat on your lap and hugged your neck, who needed tucking in at night, who made up whole worlds with dolls and dress ups and who served us tea and play food in their pretend restaurant.


These days those little girls are college students cooking real food on a real stove, driving cars instead of roller blades, still dressing up but not in their grandmother's Hawaiian mu'u mu'u anymore. We moved to England during what was our daughter's transition from girlhood to teenager and now young adult. I didn't realize we were leaving childhood behind when we left the US but in essence that's what we did. Lots of happy memories were packed into that storage container in 2003. And yesterday, a moving van and a naked barbie brought them all back.

7 comments:

  1. Joyce - Will you please stop making me cry?! Love your posts but my tear ducts can't take much more :-)

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  2. Great post Joyce. What wonderful memories. I am in Savannah helping my son and his family move into their new home. We spent two days driving here from Annapolis, where they've been for the last two years. I helped three of them move to Annapolis two years ago, and now they are a family of four. They have lots of memories ahead of them.

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  3. That is so sweet!
    How fun to go back and reminisce.
    I remember years ago when our kids were babies and we took lots of pictures but couldn't always afford to develop them. Several years later I found some rolls of film and had them developed. My husband and I were almost in tears looking at those pictures. I can only imagine how you all are feeling seeing all this.
    This is funny.....all this time I thought the words in the song "Memories" were ....."memories like the corner of my mind." I never knew until I just read this that it's "light." Makes much more sense. :)
    Have a great day Joyce!

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  4. That is so awesome!
    To have everything preserve, just waiting for you . . . wow.
    Now see!!!! You are doing good! Once again WELCOME HOME! and congratulations on purchasing your new home!!! Just as many wonderful memories of your girls and their futures will be made there!
    Have a great weekend! Big, big hugs! Karen :)

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  5. What a great post.

    I'm Kathy Beaumont's friend, btw. You don't know me, but I've been following and enjoying your blog.

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  6. Joyce....What a great post and what a treasure to go through the storage container after all that time away. Congrats on your new home and I am sure that in no time at all you will fill the new home with many new fun new memories as well. I have really enjoyed reading about your adventures and am glad we ran into one another on here. =o)

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  7. This post just warmed my heart. What a treasure opening up those boxe. Like a time capsule!
    I can't believe you lived that many years w/ out that Kitchen Aid mixer. Welcome back Stateside!

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