BARBIES….NAH….

All this blogging about Barbie dolls got me thinking. I never was one of “those” girls. Not that “those” girls are bad or anything. They just liked doing things that most girls wanted to do. I could never understand it. I was a tomboy.

I was outside most of the time running, playing batman, hide and seek, and beating up the boys. I was the fastest thing going. And I mean I really was fast. The boys I couldn’t beat up I could at least outrun. (don’t laugh, it saved my bacon a few times when I got cocky). It got so bad that I (in grade 7) took on a guy that was in grade 10. He had been particularly nasty to my older sister and then had the nerve to hang around our house. She had broken up with him and he made her cry. She had come home in tears and I guess he followed her and taunted her all the way back to the house. I put the run on him. I mean no one picked on my sisters except maybe me.

I never really started any fights but I was sure quick to end them. I hated bullies. They were my favorite to go after. There was just something that bothered me about someone who picked on another kid just because they were different or smaller. I would tuck them under my wing and it soon became known that I would indeed retaliate for any harm done to my “Protectee”. I actually had quite a following.

My Mother desperately tried everything to get me to settle down. It didn’t work. I was brought up to be independent and a free thinker. So once I had tasted that freedom it was highly unlikely that I was going to change. I tore more clothes than my other 3 sister put together. Grass stains, dirt and rips abounded. And fashion…what the heck was that??? I wore the most uncolored coordinated outfits imaginable. As long as I had a top and a bottom on and was covered…who cared was my thought. I found out many years later that my sisters didn’t like to be seen with me as they were afraid they may have to admit they knew me.

At age 17, I finally discovered boys and things changed. Well a little anyway, as I learned that if I just wore all black, everything matched. Easy and I didn’t have to fuss around with all those colored things and wonder. Sticking to the neutral palette works well for me and I know I can throw in one color and I am safe.

So Barbie was out for me…no top heavy, prissy, dress her up in ball gowns, rich, skinny Malibu babe was going to divert my attention. I wanted adventure, travel and fun things to do in real life. I have finally achieved most of what I dreamed of. Still a tomboy but with a feminine side but I don’t know where it came from. Perhaps some of what mother and the sisters told me really did rub off. Not much but enough to get me by. I think…..

I am a prison guard in an all male institution….You be the judge!!!