EMBRACING MY INNER BARBIE

You might have guessed by the fact that I wrote a book about a girl who wears a sack dress and no shoes that fashion is not quite my thing.

In fact, I don't think I owned a Barbie doll ever. I was a baby-doll kind of girl and never really understood my friends' fascination with Barbie. I was too busy pretending to nurse my babies and rocking them and pretending with my sister that we ran a daycare and one day none of the parents came back, so the babies were ALL OURS. And that was a good thing!

If I knew one thing about myself as a young girl, it was that someday I wanted to be a mother. And I really do love being a mom.

But back to Barbie. I've seen TOY STORY 3 twice now, and Barbie is a new edition to the cast of toys. She's the stereotypical "dumb blonde" in a lot of ways. She's silly at times and dramatic at others. And she vacillates between being all about fashion to being all about Ken.

Only she isn't just that. Wait a while, and her good heart and independence and loyalty shine through. She's cool and gorgeous and makes a difference at Sunnyside Daycare. She's a 21st century woman. And she delivers the best line in the whole movie.

All this to say I don't feel so heated anymore in my argument against Barbie. I will ALWAYS love baby dolls, and given the choice, will cuddle one in my arms over dressing Barbie in legwarmers any day.

But I celebrate Barbie's independence and image-sense.

Watch out Lindsey Leavitt and Rachel Hawkins: I might start reading SEVENTEEN magazine next. :)