Dolls Dolls Dolls
Saturday December 2, 2023
Harbor View
To say I grew up poor would be a misrepresentation. China in the 1970s was a different world where value was considered not in terms of dollars but privilege. My parents were intellectuals, so we might have been slightly better off than some others around us, yet we had next to nothing as far as material possessions. My mom was always reusing everything. Even a broken cooking pot was repurposed into a trash can, and not because it’s hip to “upcycle”, but that the old trash can was falling apart when my brother had to haul it down the street to the dumpster pile around the street corner.
I was a girly girl which was a surprise to everyone, mostly to my mom, who didn’t have a clue how to dress herself, much less teaching me. I liked everything pretty, sweet, fuzzy, cute, gentle. I ached for a doll with every fiber in my body.
Soon after we got married Bill bought me a Samantha doll for my birthday. She’s on the right in the picture, in her original American Girl doll outfit. Later I found Kirsten in De Anza Flea Market for some very cheap price. She’s also in her original outfit, which is meaningful because now that I’m an adult I collect the dolls for display, not for playing. Samantha and Kirsten were two of the three original American Girl dolls (the third one was Molly) released by Pleasant Company in the late 1980s. To have the original dolls from early to mid 1990s, and in Samantha’s case, in original, pristine condition, never played with, was priceless.
Over the next twenty or so years I made a few things for the dolls, and bought a few more. They stood side by side on the bookcase and kept a watchful eye on the two-legged and four-legged children. Sometimes Barbie and Ken joined them.
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In 2018 during the divorce I decided to sell off most things from Bill, for a clean start. Samantha and Kirsten were sold as a pack, with all the clothes and accessories, in Samantha’s original box, on Facebook Marketplace for $50. Not the best deal for me but I wanted things gone.
Couple years later as I prepared to move out of my Los Gatos home, I joined a Facebook Group called Buy Nothing Los Gatos, with the agenda of letting neighbors give away items so they don’t end up in the landfill. My intention is to have a good place to give away things while I downsize. Then I get distracted, of course.
One of the members posted a message to give away a few dolls. Oh be still my heart! Those are American Girl dolls! I must have one! I pleaded, that I would not only take good care of the doll (unlike some ruthless children), but I’d also make her pretty clothes. So I picked up this naked doll one evening. After a bunch of googling, she was determined to be Saige, doll of the year in 2013, and was promptly retired, which made her fairly rare.
Before you know it, Saige had a wardrobe. The gifter also found her original outfit (with one shoe!) plus a bag of other clothes. Another member gave me the original outfit for Molly doll and a few other dresses, which she played with when she was a little girl.
Here are the ladies in my current line up: Saige in original dress (one shoe!) and knitted poncho, Lea in purple modern outfit, Felicity in original dress.
I reached out to the woman who bought my original Samantha and asked to buy her back, and she refused, saying her daughters loved playing with the dolls. So my original pristine Samantha is no more. I’m glad she’s bringing joy to little girls.
