Hello memory lane

Tonight, in my continuing quest to get rid of everything I own*, I pulled out an accordion file that I hadn't looked at in years, full of the paper dolls that Gen and I used to make. I have no memory of us actually ever playing with these paper dolls; we just liked to create enormous wardrobes and incredibly detailed life stories for them. Oh, and a couple of summers we had beauty pageants (basically excuses to drawn more, themed, clothes, but we also created judges, each with their own personality, and judged based on those personalities, and added up scores and had an actual surprise winner).

The funny thing (besides the incredibly amusing and very embarrassing books full of stories about them. and the fact that they all had tiny heads for their bodies) was that there was one who was clearly an idealized version of me. Or more accurately an idealized version of who I wished I was. I mean, seriously, she drove an orange bug with flowers painted all over it, had murals on her walls and a room full of funky cushions and mismatched furniture, worked at the organic food store, wore brightly patterned hippie punk clothing in orange and purple and green, was loved by everyone. Exactly what I would have wanted to be like if I had any confidence at that age.

I couldn't stop laughing.

*Not really. But sort of.