Toy Story 3 may possibly be one of the best movies to come out this year. Honestly 2010 so far has been the year of crap movies. And I'm not counting those blockbusters that made enough money to keep a small county running. I'm talking about those movies, where you learn something or have an emotional reaction in such a way where you can't stop thinking about what you have just watched.
Movies in a way are a lot like books if you think about that.
Toy Story 3 is a true emotional experience for all ages. The first Toy Story came out 15 years ago. Those children, who were just toddlers or young children at the time, are now very much like the boy Andy of Toy Story. Andy is now seventeen and heading off to college. He must put away his childhood toys, either throw them away or put them up in the attic where they will gather dust. It's hard for him to do so, mainly because of his most beloved toy, Woody. Andy decides that he'll bring Woody with him to college. His mother, as most mothers are when their children head off to college, is both sad and happy. This is her baby boy who is leaving the nest. We see this portrayed, especially in the final fifteen minutes of the movie. The mother waves her son goodbye as he drives away to begin the next step in his life as an adult. Andy then has to come to decision whether he should give up Woody and those beloved toys of his to the next generation of children who will come to love their toys as much as he did.
I'm not ashamed to admit that those last fifteen minutes of Toy Story 3 brought me to tears. A grown man with his three small children was sitting next to me and I heard sniffles coming from him. The whole theater was practically weeping as young adults sat there remembering their fond times with their childhood toys, as well as parents who thought of their children growing into adults.
As adults we are taught to put aside all childish things, and that means our toys. When Andy put Woody in his box for college, I felt the same way because I too have a very special toy that is near to me even at my age.
My cabbage patch Toni has been with me since I was six years old. Growing up, my parents made sure my sister and I had a roof over our head and food, but we never had the newest toys or gadgets. We were the last to get a VCR and even had a rotary phone until I graduated high school. My television in my bedroom was this old black and white dinosaur.
What made Toni extra special was the undying love my mother had for my sister and I. She and my grandmother, during the height of the cabbage patch kid craze, stood on line for hours to buy a $50 doll with yarn hair for her two daughters so they would have them on Christmas morning. Back in the early eighties $50 was a lot of spend on a toy, especially with the recession at the time and a father who was out of work off and on.
Toni is my most special toy ever. Only my Schwinn bike I was given at ten comes in second. Toni sleeps with me every night. She has been there for me through it all. She is my rock. I took her away to college with me and she came back with me when I lived in my very first apartment. She makes me smile when I see her lying on my bed.
A few weeks ago we almost had a fire in my house due to a faulty wiring from an outlet where our air conditioner was. I actually saw flames come out of the wall. I shudder to think what would have happened if my family and I weren't home. Knowing that my childhood home could have possibly gone up in flames, my first thought was of losing my cat came first and then of Toni. If I had to run in my burning house to save any of items of value, those two things were first and foremost in my mind to grab.
My cabbage Patch doll is almost thirty years old. The only value it has is sentimental. I know Toni will be with me for as long as I live. But when the times come, and I go to that great beyond, I would love nothing more to hand over Toni to another little girl, whose deepest wish is to have a doll that she can love and keep with her until she decides to hand it down to another.
Toni is very much a part of my happily ever after.
10 comments:
What a lovely post! And thank you for the linkage.
One of my first toys was a Cabbage Patch. I named her Kirsty after one of the babies in the daycare centre I was attending at the time. I thought my new Cabbage Patch looked just like her. :D
Great post. I still have my Cabbage Patch Doll too. :)
What a great post today.
I don't often think about it, but my favorite doll was given to me the Christmas I turned 6. A Thumbelina doll (yes, from 1960!) that has gone everywhere with me and now sits on my bed every day wearing a dress both of my girls wore when they were about her size. My favorite from when they were little.
She's listened to my worries, my accomplishments, my ideas, absorbed my tears. After all these years, she still works and I still have the wooden "key" used to wind her up. I hope someday, she'll listen to a granddaughter's tales as she did mine.
:hugs:
Thanks, KB -- It's nice to know (as the makers of Toy Story clearly do!) that for a lot of us, these connections with our first loves are lasting ones.
I'm too old for Cabbage Patch dolls, but I remember hearing from my mother about how she stood in line to get one for my niece, who's about your age. I have no idea if that doll became important to Rebecca, but I do know that my mother completely understood why you stand in line to buy a toy. Because it might be THE toy.
And may I say how youthful & love Toni looks?
Almost all of my stuffed animals, including my beloved stuffed unicorn and my battered teddy bear, now reside comfortably in a retirement community, Patchwork Acres (aka, a shelf in my closet). A few years ago, my husband's adored stuffed gorilla joined the gang, and I hear them sometimes, late at night, having bingo games and drinking iced tea with rum.
P.S. I am almost 37 years old.
Great Post Katie! I still have my Kathleen too! You're right about it being about the love your mother has for you. Not realizing how hard these dolls were to come by the year they were released (how could I have, I was just little), I asked for a very specific Cabbage Patch Doll. Green eyes, curly hair, not yellow blond but not brown hair either. And miracles of all miracles, my mother managed to find what I wanted. I still don't know how she did it! lol It's neat to see my daughter play with Kathleen now...
Le sigh. My Cabbage Patch Kid's name was Marcy. I loved her and had her since I was 7. Until someone stole her out of my dormroom my freshman year. I still miss Marcy.
Thank you KB - that was such a heart-warming post :) I still have my stuffed toys...I don't think I could throw any of them away, but especially not one. I have a yellow dog (named Doggie :) who was with me through all my asthma attacks. He was my slow breathing focus. With me through everything.
I totally understand your love for your Cabbage Patch Doll. We didn't have the latest toys either, but somehow my mom managed to get me, my brother, my sister, and my cousin dolls the year they came out. I still have Lori to this day and she too went to college with me. She has been with me since I was 10 years old and even survived a house fire. She is the last doll my mom gave me before she passed away, so she is the most special doll ever and the only one of my dolls to survive the house fire.
You know, Jo Beverley still features her Cabbage Patch dolls in most of her posts at WordWenches...She's had hers a loooooooooong time too.
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