When I sat down to recall playthings past, I first remembered the abandoned oven in my great grandmother's garden and the many many hours spent there making mudpies and meals from all the garden goodies she allowed me to use. The chickens scratching at my feet.
I thought I had hit heaven when we ascended the attic stairs and went through boxes of old records and turned the handle on the Victrola, me in a vintage dress that I had rummaged from a dilapidated trunk and she in her calico cotton smelling of coffee and cookies and soap and earth.
Oh sure, I had a few Barbie dolls. But the thing I remember most was not hours imagining Barbie's life with Ken, but rather the hours spent sewing scraps for Barbie's new wardrobe and then cutting her hair only to find my agility with the scissors led to the original punk Barbie.
Retreating to the pine grove with a book and a blanket.
Lying there
listening to the wind rustle the needles as I immersed myself in
imaginary worlds.
Roller skating.
From those rusty adjustable skates to the boot skates
we scored at a garage sale when my foot finally slowed growing.
These
are the things that come to mind when I consider my nostalgia for
vintage toys.
I have vague memories of Big Wheel and Betsy Wetsy and Inch Worm and Merlin but I don't recall that these were the playthings that
molded me.
Don't get me wrong, I dog-eared the Sears Wish Book like crazy. However, in retrospect it seems now that it was as much about what we didn't have as what we had.
Back then we didn't have playrooms stuffed to the gills with the
latest whatnot.
Back then it was more than receiving all that we wanted.
It was about the hoping and wishing and experiencing
some disappointment.
Then ultimately calling on creativity to fill the long summer
days.
Those were the things that informed our hard work of play.
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Thanks to Jessi at Scrappy Jessi for hosting the Vintage Toys post today.