Danielle Blog

100 things – 21 through 30 – childhood and teen years

21. When I was a little girl, I didn’t really play with baby dolls. I played with stuffed animals, and the Rose Petal Dolls, and Barbie.

“Rose Petal Dolls?”, you may ask? Yes, they were my favorites of all of my dolls.

Here is the story of the Rose Petal Dolls.

I kept them in their boxes, to keep them safe. Mainly, so that nothing would get lost. But also because I loved the story on the back of the box. I see that they were $6.92 from Target.

22. I also played with Strawberry Shortcake.

She and her friend, Cafe Ole, loved to go for rides on the butterfly and on the horse and carriage.

23. I sewed a lot of clothes for my dolls. I was particularly thrilled to find that I’d made a couple of outfits each for my Rose Petal dolls and that they were still in their boxes with them.

Note: Rose Petal (the pink one) had a matching skirt, but her top is lost.

and in large

Can you see the 80′s influence on the clothes? Lily Fair is wearing harem pants and a shirt with those rucked (?) sleeves. Also, the big bow on the “sweater dress” were big too, if I remember correctly. I think the ruffles were in style too, especially in fancier dresses.

24. When we lived in southern Indiana at the ‘tip of the boot’ as I like to say, my best friend, Amber, was a couple of years older than me. We spent a lot of time swimming in their above-ground pool, making up dance routines and gymnastics, singing songs, playing games – 4-square and hide-and-go seek, riding bikes and rollerskating.

25. We moved from southern Indiana to just west of Indianapolis the summer between my 4th and 5th grade years. I was terribly sad to leave my friends, but I made a fantastic new friend, Denise.

26. Denise was with me during my pre-teen and early teen years. We (again) made up routines – especially baton-twirling and dancing combined. I particularly remember a routine to the Top Gun theme song.

We explored the woods. Rode our bikes down the road to the bridge and through the trails in the woods in our neighborhood.

We also played on the rope swing at my house and the rope in her backyard. We’d climb this ladder to the very top – past the step that you weren’t supposed to go above – and jump off, while holding the rope. She had older brothers, so her parents were particularly calm about our doing things that I had previously considered too scary or dangerous. I became a little more daring with Denise.

27. I don’t keep in contact with Denise anymore, but I still think of her. She was the maid of honor at HB’s and my wedding. She knew how to keep me calm that day.

I DO talk to her mom sometimes, who is also a friend of mine.

28. We moved to southern Indiana outside of Louisville between my 9th and 10th grade years in high school. Again, I was terribly sad to leave, but slowly, I made some friends at school.

29. I only attended that school in southern Indiana for one year, and then I went away to a public school for accelerated learning my junior and senior years where I made a lot of friends. It was at this school that at the beginning of my senior year, I became good friends with HB. We started dating after Thanksgiving my senior year.

If my family hadn’t moved and decreased my attachment to my friends, I might not have gone to that school. So, it all worked out very well in the end.

30. My feelings about that school are very complicated, since it was incredibly difficult academically and I think I was depressed for part of my senior year and didn’t know it. Also, I made some life long friends – particularly HB – there, so I can’t help but be ever so thankful and glad that I went. Finally, as difficult as the classes were, they really prepared me for college. My first year of college was much easier, as a result and helped keep me in science.

Final note: It was at that school, my junior and senior years, that I got the nickname Danie. But only people from that school call me that. It helps keep that nickname special to me.