It’s All About the Daughter

I wasn’t at all surprised that my granddaughters were into American Girl dolls.  And it has been one of the greatest joys of my life to share this interest with them.  But, I never expected any one of my three daughters to join me in collecting American Girl dolls, especially not my middle daughter, Katie.

She had never been very into dolls as a child.  Of course, she had baby dolls as a toddler.  And she had dolls in elementary school, especially Barbies.  But, I can’t say she was exceptionally interested in them, maybe even less interested than most girls her age.  Therefore, I was more than a little surprised when Katie became interested in American Girls dolls at the age of 28.

We were sitting on the sofa together.  She was looking through one of my old American Girl catalogs.  “Oooh!” she exclaimed when she turned to the Felicity and Elizabeth pages.  “I love all of their clothes!”  I agreed with her that they were indeed beautiful.  She perused the Felicity and Elizabeth pages a bit longer and then shocked me by saying, “I want Felicity and Elizabeth.”  At first, I thought she was joking.  “I really do want them,” she assured me.

Unfortunately, Felicity had been retired the year before, so I couldn’t just get them for her from American Girl.  By that time, however, I had gained some experience buying retired American Girl items on eBay.  Asking several more times for reassurance that she did indeed want these dolls, I began the search for really good Felicity and Elizabeth dolls that wouldn’t break my bank.  It took a week or so, but I got two excellent used condition dolls.  They were my Christmas present to Katie that year.

Like a kid, she squealed with glee when she opened them on Christmas morning.  We had so much fun dressing our dolls together.  Not long after, we had one of our first American Girl doll festivals that included my dolls, Katie’s dolls and my 2 granddaughters’ dolls.

Katie and I have always been close.  She is a lot like me and we have many things in common.  But, American Girl dolls have brought us even closer together.  We can talk about them for hours.  We look at the American Girl website together and search eBay for retired items we want.  We contact each other as soon as new items are released by American Girl, so that we can oooh and ahhh over them together.

Initially, Katie thought Felicity and Elizabeth would be the only two American Girl dolls she would ever want.  Like my own experience with collecting American Girl dolls, that did not last long.  She now has seven dolls: Felicity and Elizabeth, Cecile and Marie-Grace, Addy,. Rebecca and a beautiful Just Like Me doll she named Charlotte.

 

 

We have started a tradition of giving each other a new doll for Christmas each year.  This year, I gave her Rebecca and she gave me the new Samantha.  The thrill of getting a new doll never seems to go away.  I feel especially blessed to be able to share this passion of mine with Katie.  Who knows how long we will both want our family of American Girls to grow?

I would love American Girl dolls, even if I were the only adult in the world who did so.  But, sharing this passion of mine with an adult daughter is the sweetest thing.   It is one of the greatest joys of my life.  Thanks Katie, for being my best friend and sharing this love with me.