My Buddies and Me

My sisters and I were exchanging e-mails a few weeks ago, reminiscing about our favorite companions from our childhood. We share almost all of the same ones as it was common for the three of us to get the same gift, but perhaps with a different haircolor, dress, theme, etc. Deirdre always got the African American dollbaby... never quite figured that one out. I kid, I kid. Anyways, I was laughing as we brought these toys up and got to thinking about the future of my (hopefully existant someday) children. I want them to have an imagination, to venture outside, to play make-believe (even when the acted out plots are borderline creepy... Dana knows what I'm talking about) to act like kids for as long as possible. I'm sure they'll try their luck at a few video games (Mario Kart will still be around if I'm lucky), but for the most part I hope they're active and on the move. My sisters, cousins, and I hardly spent a minute indoors when we were together. If we were inside, it meant that we were writing or producing a brilliant play or musical. We spent an entire vacation creating the "Wolfman Trail" around our grandparents house in New Hampshire, brainstorming and imagining every single detail about each stopping point along the path... "This area (that very much resembles a horseshoe pit) is where the wolfman EATS HIS MEAT when he is very, very hungry"... things like that. We were always on the run. But anyways, back to the topic of this post... I hope my children find the same comfort in companions such as these, just like my sisters and I did. Here's a few that I will always remember...

Cabbage Patch Kids.

I'm sure most of you had one, if not two, of these chubby-cheeked dolls. I still remember their heads smelling like vanilla... I must have head a bald cabbage patch baby at one point. I even got to visit the Cabbage Patch Hospital while living in California... took my doll's heartbeat and everything. There were definitely a few floating around the Lauer house... and when I looked for a picture online, I came across several articles that were quite amusing. They discussed the cabbage patch craze in the 1980's and it reminded me of people now waiting for hours outside in the middle of the night of a Best Buy for the "next big thing".... or years ago when people were storming the toy stores for a "Tickle Me Elmo". On the topic of cabbage patch dolls, one article read, "During the peak of the fad, Coleco could not produce the dolls fast enough to satisfy demand. The dolls were hard to find at a time when every parent had to have one for their beloved kids. Pandemonium erupted. Two disc jockeys in Milwaukee wisecracked that a load of the dolls would be dropped from a B-29 bomber to people who held up catcher’s mitts and American Express cards. Two dozen believers turned up at County Stadium, braving a wind-chill factor of -2° F, in the vain hope of catching one of the prized dolls." That is awesome. I love gullible people. Mainly because they make me feel better about being one myself.

Popples.

I hope you were lucky enough to have one of these freakishly awesome little pals. How many toys or dolls can be rolled up into a ball of fur (tail and all), and then return to it's original shape with one swift "pop"? My popples saw me through some tough times... college and all.

Pillow People.

And last but not least.... the coolest.... my dirtiest (besides Buddy the clown, my thumb-sucking companion who got dragged absolutely everywhere).... the most bada$$ pal around.... the one and only "I'M PUNKY" pillow person. My pillow person was a hipster before these modern-day hipsters were even born... striped leggings, purple satin shoes and all. You go, Punky.

Let me give a quick shout-out to Buddy the clown, who deserves his own blog post. He was my most favorite companion from the time I was a tot to the time I was way too old to be sucking my thumb.... I don't think I'll divulge that secret yet to my readers. The reason he's not on here is because I can't find a picture that does him justice online, as he was very difficult to find in the stores. My relatives searched high and low for ol' Buddy, knowing that if I were to lose him, chances are I wouldn't make it through the night. I'm pretty sure my Uncle Jerry once came across him in a random drugstore in New York and ended up buying all they had in stock. That's a good uncle... and brother. We always had back-ups, and I'm quite certain my parents still have the stuffing of one of his legs stashed away in one of my seven memory boxes. I even won a writing contest in eighth grade sponsored by the Walton Museum for a paper I wrote about Buddy. I still remember my Aunt Cindy driving me to the museum to attend the ceremony and receive my award. Buddy was good to me.

Now it's your turn.... what was your favorite companion growing up? Slap bracelets don't count.