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If there were a prize for "Biggest Barbie Fan of All Time" it would stand on a shelf somewhere in my home. My first Barbie doll had that original "Barbie" ponytail. When I met her she was wearing the familiar, classic, black-and-white striped swimsuit. Her sunglasses (with white frames and blue lenses) were tucked in the box, along with a small catalog of Barbie outfits and her black metal pedestal-stand.

I hadn't always wanted a Barbie doll. I actually thought the original Barbie was "ugly". To me, she didn't have the pretty face that Vogue's Ginny and Jill dolls had, and I had always loved my Ginny dolls, Ginette dolls (Ginny's baby sister), and Jill doll. (I had been given a Jeff doll, the boyfriend of Jill, but my feminine-faced Jeff doll had only a tuxedo to wear, so poor Jeff was ignored most of the time.) Even with her beautiful prom gown and light aqua balloon dress, however, Jill didn't have that high-fashion look that Barbie had. So, in spite of the fact that I didn't think Barbie had a pretty face, and didn't particularly like the elastic band that created a strange knob at the end of her ponytail, I eventually decided I wanted a Barbie doll after all.

Barbie was a" teenage fashion model". Unlike Jill, Barbie didn't have "toy" accessories. Barbie had clothing and accessories that were miniatures - and there is a big difference. Unlike Jill, who actually looked a little more like many of the teenage girls I knew, Barbie looked like nobody I had ever seen. Her strangely tall and narrow build, along with that famous "top" of hers, let Barbie's clothes look sharp and polished. I recall often saying that I thought Barbie didn't look like a teenager and that, instead, she looked thirty. Still, even with my need to overlook a face I didn't find pretty and those long legs that made getting Barbie into her sports car and boat very difficult, I became obsessed with Barbie and all things teeny-tiny. (I've always assumed that Barbie's narrow, angular, sharp, appearance in her clothes is particularly appealing to girls because most girls and women find the sharp, angular, male build more appealing than a softer, rounder, feminine shape.)

Since I wasn't a girl who ever planned to be a fashion model, it didn't take me long to turn my Barbie doll into someone who did things in which I thought I would be interested when I grew up. For a few years, my girlfriend and I would spend hours and hours each week, "playing Barbie" and imagining all the things our Barbie dolls

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