Sunday, February 21, 2010

Where my heart is…..

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   Nope….this is not another story about how my heart is doing, although I am doing a lot better….thanks everyone for your words and prayers! Yesterday I had to be at a meeting early in the morning with my husband in my beloved home town of Yarmouth, Maine. It pulls at my heartstrings when I ride through that town, and it is not often enough. I asked my husband to take the back way, coming home, going past the house I grew up in…just to steal a glance at the old place. I miss my home town. I guess I am at that age where I am pulled back to the past very easily. What is it about getting older that makes us do that so frequently? My mind wants to wander back to the days when I was a child. Time seemed to stand still back then. It was probably the best time of my life….before life became so complicated with adult choices and decisions. When we are children we cannot wait to grow up and be like the big people. When we are adults, we want to be young again!  Never satisfied I guess? Yarmouth was a wonderful place to live. It is a quaint little fishing village. It is where my mother and father grew up and had their first date. It is where I made my first friends in life. Recently, Yarmouth was in the news. There was a tree by the name of Herbie that needed to be cut down. Why would a tree make the news you say? Here’s a link to why…….  HERBIE  This old tree now has it’s own website!! It’s a really cool story that got me thinking about that area of town and my childhood friends.

    One of those childhood friends lived down the road from Herbie. I was probably 10 years old. It was on the other side of town. I had heard of that area because there was a market close by her house by the name of Spring Street Market.  A place where you could get fresh crabmeat. Not many markets carried that. We had Day’s Crabmeat of course but that’s a different story.  Regina would invite me over to her house to play. Eventually, I started staying the night. Her mother and father were so nice, they made me feel right at home. Regina’s mother was a seamstress and she worked part time at the local dry cleaners, mending peoples clothes. She also took in jobs at home like hemming up a pair of pants…etc.  Regina was an only child. She had the largest selection of Barbie and Ken dolls I think I have ever seen. She had the plastic cases with all the accessories, many different Barbie dolls and so many outfits, I could not begin to count them, almost all, made, by her seamstress mom. The only way of knowing the Mattel brand from hers were the tags! She was amazing! We spent hours mixing and matching clothes for our dolls. Putting fur stoles on them, pretending we were sending them off to a very important ball! What fun we had!! I found this old mix and match YouTube video of Barbie…….

She had a bedroom that was like an attic room….so cozy and the walls were covered with a lovely wallpaper. It had two twin beds and there were books and toys and dolls everywhere! Kind of like this one I found a photo of…

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….only bigger. We always had a box of Triscuits, nearby, that we snacked on.image To this day, I think of her when I see or buy a box of Triscuits, because that was the snack we had to have when I stayed the night! If I liked a particular piece of clothing that Mattel made for Barbie, I would tell Regina’s mom, and she would try and reproduce it. Oh she was a genius when it came to doing that, but oh so humble about it. “Well I will give it a try dear.” she would say, and it would be spot on! She could have worked for Mattel.

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Thos cute little outfits and the cases with the hangers to hand them in! I cannot imagine trying to make these little tiny clothes!! And what about Ken??

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What a romance we created between the two of them!  What great memories.

   I can’t wait to have grandchildren so I can start playing with dolls again!! It was a great time to be young and a wonderful town to grow up in. I should try and find my childhood friend!

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a grand memory! I know that I've written to you and also mentioned that each story you publish of your life and experiences make (as w/Margaret's stories of her childhood, etc.,)is genealogy and history at it's most personal best. What a gift for your children and their future heirs.
May I suggest that you purchase two three-ring-two-inch binders (Carissa and Kyle) and begin the process of entering family chronicles and ancestry ... A couple of pages at a time ... Couple of photos ...A copy of this and that ...
It's also relaxing work and fun! Your blogs can be the beginning. Take care, my friend. You have a grand history to reveal like newly discovered planets in the galaxy! Love, GeeGee

Debbie said...

Awe....Alice!! You are so sweet! I love you to pieces my friend...Moi...Moi...Moi!!! Those are kisses being blown to you!!

Anonymous said...

Perfect!Great! This helped a bunch! I've read a couple
rather confusing sites lately, this cleared up a lot confusion I had.

Anonymous said...

Hi Debbie! I loved reading your post! Glad you were able to go back to your home town and reminisce. Oh, I had a girly girl room too when I was growing up and I did love my Barbies! Still have a few, but they've seen better days - my daughter played with them! :)
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Unknown said...

What great memories! And I read about Herbie, too!

Debbie said...

Sheila:...Why am I NOT surprised you had a girly room!? You are such a girl girl today my friend!! Thanks for popping in....love seeing you.
EVA:...Oh of course you read about Herbie!! You must have known about it already? Pretty neat story. My brother wants a piece of Herbie sent to him in Nashville! Not so easy to do! Thanks for coming by.~.

Kathleen said...

Oh Debbie, how I loved this post. For about 2 weeks, I have been back in the past. Mostly 8th grade, but back when I was 26, too (another story). I can't believe I will be 60 this year. You are right, the older we get, the more we yearn for our youth. And Barbie! I loved my Barbie like crazy. Her outfits came in a square box, and in 1958 or 59, they were $1.25. I remember saving my allowance so I could buy another one. I especially remember the sky blue corduroy jumper. I would KILL to have my original Barbie back.
Glad to hear you are doing well. Keep at it girlfriend, it will get easier. Luv and hugs, Kathleen

Evansmom said...

When you get a chance, come on over to my blog. There is a little happiness for you!

PS Great post!

Debbie said...

Evansmom:....For some reason I cannot access your blog??? I will get my hubby to help me later on...meanwhile, thank you so much for the award!! You are too sweet!! You made me very happy!

Dawn said...

Hi Debbie, I haven't visited alot of my blogger friends lately and I don't know why?!? Gosh, maybe it has to do with not enough hours in the day!
I love this post, can you believe I had one barbie! Malibu Barbie in her swim suit, that was it! I can't complain though, I had a Blyth, where she is?????I think my mom trashed her when we moved, a natural thing to do with worn toys. Wish I had her today. We all had one of different color.
My best friend had all the Barbies and the HUGE motorhome, we had hours of fun.
So sad about Herbie, my sister mentioned it all the way from Tenn. and hey, I joined classmates to revisit my teens. Whatsa matta wit me!!!!

Debbie said...

Dawn:...Thanks for popping in my friend! I figured you must have had ONE of those dolls back then! Good to hear you are still kicking and sailing back into your high school years with friends. I stay away from Facebook myself....I honestly think it is probably trouble for me!

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