As a kid, I said it would never happen to me, but that's just the way life is. I just don't get that excited about my birthday anymore. I remember when the countdown started shortly after Christmas. Now it's not unusual for me to go, "Hey, my birthday's in a week. How about that." When I think about looking forward to my birthday as a kid, the first thing I think about is presents. A kid with no allowance didn't get the opportunity for new stuff all that often, so birthdays and Christmas were known as the days when I got enough stuff to last me the next 6 months. There were two things you could count on me asking for on every gift-giving holiday, and one of them was a new Barbie (I won't leave you hanging about the second one, but I won't go into it today.) Actually, it was usually Barbie's friend. I may have gone into this during the Christmas Countdown, but I never liked Barbie as much as her friends. They were usually prettier and wore very similar clothes, but they were never allowed to be as popular. Why? Because they didn't follow the stereotype that the prettiest girls have to be fair skinned, blonde-haired, and draped in pink. That may seem hypocritical coming from a fair-skinned blonde (I can't help genetics), but it still made me mad. Besides, once you have one Barbie, why do you need several more? At least with her friends, you could diversify the neighborhood a bit. Otherwise it would feel a little bit like a toy version of the Stepford wives with Ken in the middle, goofy smile molded onto his face.
     I remember really wanting Tropical Miko one year.


It must have been 1987, because that was the year I was living with my grandparents over my birthday. To make things easier on everyone, I taped my birthday list up in the hall where everyone could see it. How's that for brazen? Anyway, I remember that a man from the church came by shortly before my birthday, and in making conversation with me found out about the list and asked to see it. He asked me what a "Tropical MY-ko" was. "It's MEE-ko," I quickly corrected him. He could have just told me that 2+2=5 and my nearly eight-year-old self couldn't have thought he was any dumber. Looking back, of course, I see it was a pretty easy mistake to make, yet for some reason, my perception of him has never been able to fully recover from that day when I lost nearly all respect for him. By the way, I didn't get a Miko that year. It was either that year or the next, however, when I got my favorite Barbie ever.


Ahhh...Jewel Secrets Whitney. Isn't she beautiful? Well, imagine her without the goofy backwards jacket. What a dumb look. Stupid 80's fashion.
     Whitney was the crown jewel of my collection. In my world, Barbie was trying desperately to get Ken's attention, but he was too smitten with the brunette beauty. Barbies were a dime a dozen, but Whitney...she was something different. Poor Barbie even had to look happy as she stood by Saturday after Saturday and watch Ken and Whitney get married yet again. Barbie never won. It was my world and I made the rules. Not even having her foot chewed off by my little sister could diminish her beauty. She was truly one of my favorite gifts. Of course, as any girl (any girl who played with Barbies anyway) can tell you, there was more to getting a new Barbie than the doll.


     Accessories were always exciting. This particular accessory came with Barbie (which my sister had), but Whitney came with the tiara you see her wearing, that jacket, and this weird, ribbed cape thing which always made me crave Ruffles potato chips. That last part isn't a joke.


I remember she also came with a storybook which didn't interest me at all. For one, I liked coming up with my own stories. Second, I hated that no matter which doll you bought, Barbie was always the heroine, or at least front and center. Barbie was annoying.
     Not only were there accessories, but there was the one thing I looked forward to almost as much as the doll...the fashion booklet!


I don't know if they even bother with these anymore. Barbie fashion isn't what it used to be and has probably rendered these things obsolete. I remember looking through them as a kid and picking out all the outfits I'd love to have. I pretty much never got any of them because they were rather impossible to ask for on a list (the outfits didn't have names anymore by the mid 80's) and I didn't have the means to get them myself. Still, I marveled at the beautiful clothes and managed to be impressed at how they could make Barbie dolls with all the same hair and features look so different from each other with poses, lighting, and hair styling. I can't believe I noticed that. What a weird kid.  Anyway, in an effort to find pictures of one of these booklets, I found one from 1984 that was only $4 (incl. shipping), and I couldn't help myself. It's a birthday treat to myself. Besides, on eBay there were pages of "rare" booklets from the 60's, but hardly any from the 80's. If they're that hard to find, that means this is less of a luxury purchase and more of an investment. Yeah, that's it. In any case, now I get to spend at least part of my 28th birthday much like I did my 8th, perusing a Barbie fashion booklet and picking out my favorite outfits. Birthdays rule.