I went downstairs in the basement with liam today to look for puzzles and flashbacks of you girls playing barbies down here immediately took me down memory lane. Of course the memories are not from too long ago but it’s been a while since the 3 of you have played together. The Barbies are still set up, and look like they’re super busy and really happy! The homes, the community, the shops you all created together with so much love and passion are alive down here. Hours of playing, creating, learning, imagining, building, inventing. These barbies had real lives, families, farms, businesses, jobs. Their homes were carefully and intentionally decorated. Children had beds and lots of toys and artwork that they created hung in their rooms. Shelves were organized and furniture and tableware was abundant for their large family dinners. There was storage and parking areas for family cars. Each barbie had a name and a personality. They had hectic schedules to be followed. There was soccer and gymnastics for little skippers to be at. Art classes, sewing school and I think some of the kids were homeschooled. There were meals to be made and backpacks to be stuffed. There were baby nurseries, playgrounds oh and lots and lots of children. Families with 6 to 21 kids. But if those kids became too much, you just got rid of them. Things can change quickly in barbie land, like the amount of kids you have, or what you do for a living or it can last up to 5 months, like thanksgiving or christmas. There were elaborate weddings with up to 150 guests, with cake and a ln incredible spread of food. There were christenings, bat mitzvahs, adoption celebrations and lots and lots of holidays. Grandma’s looked amazing and moms wore the most stylish clothes. Barbie makes raising 20 kids so easy!
Cousins played here too, bringing up to 30 or more of their own barbies. They celebrated together and shared in eachothers barbie events. These barbies had a good life and soon we will have to be put them away. So many lessons learned and memories made that will last a lifetime. Maybe, one day, a new generation of girls to bring them back to life again.
Liam is going to need a man cave!
what a beautiful summer night activity. My most favorite next to making smores.
Too worried, too anxious, too inexperienced, too afraid, too caught up to know just how beautiful and perfect you are right in this moment.
We barely miss a dinner together. In a world of such unpredictability, the one thing you can be sure of is dinner together at 6pm. As the kids get older, I started to realize recently that this ritual our family has will slowly start to change. We started off just Amir and I, and soon enough Isabel joined us at the table, 2 and a half years later, another seat was taken up by Melina, followed by Lia 21 months later. For 8 years there was an extra seat at our dining table and the kids always felt uneven about it. They often stated how we needed another kid so that all 6 seats would be filled. And here we are, our 6th occupant, Liam, is now 2 and a half years old. Boy our table is a full one. Lots of home-cooked food shared, some take out here and there, Friday night pizzas, extra seating added for friends and cousins, school complaints, work complaints, debates, arguments, chaos, even the occasional fist slam, and people leaving the table. But one thing is for sure, every evening at 6pm those people come back to the table and we start all over again. I wish I could freeze time and keep all of these individuals at my table, soon they will blessed to be part of others dinner tables and I pray they will always feel as welcomed as the table they will always have at home.
