I think there's an interesting life lesson buried in this one.During our brief stop in Chicago, we went into town for pizza (of course) and parked at the John Hancock building. Right across the street there is a mall, and a huge, brightly lit American Girl store opens out onto the sidewalk on the first level. When I saw this, I turned to my parents and said, "When I was about 9 years old, there was nothing I wanted more in the world than an American Girl doll."
I was surprised to find out that my parents hadn't known this (though when my mom saw the price tag on the dolls she assured me that even if they had known, I wouldn't have gotten one anyway). "You didn't even play with dolls," my mom said, and that's true. I had a Rainbow Bright doll and a few Cabbage Patch Kids, and a handful of Barbie dolls, but I didn't really play with them. It's not that I wasn't girly, or that I lacked imagination - I just had other outlets. And looking back, it's a good thing I didn't ever get an American Girl doll because it would have just collected dust in the corner.
But for several years of my childhood, I would get an American Girl catalog in the mail every season and pore over it and dream of owning my own doll and plan out exactly how I might spend $1000 if I were to, you know, suddenly receive $1000 to be spent solely on American Girl items (and at that time of my life, that's probably where any $1000 I received would have gone). I borrowed all of the books from my best friend and read them, often several times.
When my parents asked if I wanted to go in the store, for memory's sake, I shook my head. "I'm past that," I said. But after dinner we wandered into the mall just for fun, and as we descended the escalator to leave I changed my mind. It was such a huge part of growing up, and I was curious how the company and its products had evolved.
I think we were all a little blown away by the store. When I was a girl, there were three historical characters in the American Girl collection - the pioneer Kirsten, the spunky Molly growing up on the World War II homefront, and Samantha, from Victorian New York. I remember the introduction of both Felicity and Addy, though I was growing out of my American Girl phase at the time and never actually read their books. Since then the collection has also acquired Josefina, Kit, Kaya, Julie, and Rebecca, as well as "best friends" dolls for several of the historical characters. You can also get personalized American Girl dolls, with your skin tone and hair and eye color.
Even more impressive than the expanded collection of dolls was the store itself. In search of a bathroom on the second floor, we turned a corner and discovered a branch of the store containing a customizable doll t-shirt station, a cafe where you can have luncheon with your doll, a doll hair salon, and even a doll hospital.It turns out there really are people who let their daughters live my 9-year-old fantasy of spending thousands of dollars on dolls and accessories. And honestly, I'm grateful that my parents were not those people. As an adult, I can look back and see that owning an American Girl doll would never have made me as happy as I though it would. Once I owned the doll, I would have just wanted the next accessory or outfit or piece of doll furniture or matching nightgown or best friend doll. And I wouldn't have every played with any of it. It's much more fun to look back and remember how exciting it was to look through the catalog, and to long for something so much I thought I would burst, and then to grow up and be happier with the memories of the longing than I would have been with the thing itself.
Oh yeah, and the answer to the question in the title is yes, the first American Girl doll ever discontinued left the ranks just this year.
As we walked through the displays of the historical characters my dad asked, "Which one was your favorite?"
"Samantha," I replied immediately. Even though I liked Molly's stories better, Samantha looked most like me with wavy dark hair and brown eyes. And so we set off looking for the Samantha aisle, but it didn't seem to be there. Finally I asked one of the sales clerks, who told me that Samantha had been discontinued this year to make way for Rebecca, another turn-of-the-cetury-ish New York City doll.
This should mean nothing to me. But it did make me feel a little sad.
5 comments:
I had never hear of American Girl dolls before I read this. But the other day at the doctor there was a Care Bear sitting in the waiting room and I couldn't believe they still made those. I'm not sure if it was for reasons economic or otherwise, but when we were little my sewed my sisters homemade Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Kids, and they were probably more beloved as a result.
They discontinued Samantha?! I liked her stories...
I was the exact same way when I was younger. I always thought all the furniture and accessories looked so fantastic and I dreamed of having them. I'm glad I didn't get the doll either. They seem so pricey. I was happy with my Barbies.
Samantha was my favorite too! I have no idea why.
I too spent hours meticulously poring over those catalogs and deciding exactly how I would spend large sums of hypothetical money even though I never played with dolls. Felicity was my favorite (whether because she was the newest, because you could buy a horse to accompany her, or because she was a fiery redhead, I don't know). I probably still have Felicity Saves the Day packed away in a box somewhere.
The store truly was amazing. Two (large) floors. The "beauty salon" with a row of miniature chairs and a wide range of hairstyles to choose from. The "hospital" with wheelchairs, casts and a "doctor" in white coat on call. The cafe was beautiful with places for girls and their dolls.
I guess they have the stores in several locations including Los Angeles. There must be a lot of wealthy, indulgent parents out there! Anyway, it was fun to look.
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