So ... while reading comments from my last blog (and I do read your comments ... and cherish each one) I came across this one from "ginny" which said:
"I'll be expecting my Cabbage Patch Kid from Woolworth's in the mail."
If you read that and were confused (what the heck does that have to do with dust or jury duty?) I am here to clear that up. If you didn't go back and read my comments, then you are probably ... a normal person.
Here's the story:
In the summer of '82 or '83, I was was the young mother of 3 girls ("ginny" amy gee and mrs. dub) and one boy (sonny-boy). I started out the summer with high hopes of organization and cleanliness. I made the obligatory "chore chart" and I attached a very large, very impossible-to-obtain prize to the other end of the bribe: If they did their chores regularly (made beds, picked up toys, kept all stray Barbie-body-parts out of the couch cushions) then they would receive the most coveted prize of all ... a Cabbage Patch Kid, heretofore known as the CPK. I knew at the moment I told them this, that CPK's were near to impossible to come by, but I didn't worry. Why not? Because the chore chart had been largely ignored to that point in their young lives, that's why.
When they (and by "they" I mean the 3 girls, Sonny Boy was the size of a CPK at the time) got up the next morning and promptly made their beds, I wasn't worried. One week later when the Barbies were fully ambulatory, I started to panic. At this point I knew that the only way to be able to purchase a CPK was to be inside the store at the exact moment the shipment arrived. And at that ... blood would probably need to be spilled.
I put in calls to relatives in several states to be on guard and then proceeded to pray. One unremarkable, hotter-than-hades afternoon, I received a call from PDaddy. He was downtown Phoenix ... on jury duty ... and had gone into a Woolworths at lunch to buy gum, when lo and behold ... the shipment. He was calling to tell me this because he had walked to the Woolworths and he needed me to meet him on the street corner ... STAT ... before his lunch hour was up. I told the girls, who immediately started sobbing as we buckled ourselves into the car and sped off at the speed of light. At the first stop-light I looked down and realized I had no gas. Prayer to the rescue once again. The girls continued to sob while Sonny Boy innocently played with a toy, not realizing that his status as "most fun play thing in the house" was about to go up in smoke.
When we got downtown, there was poor PDaddy holding not one, not two, but three of the gargantuan boxes that held our new grandchildren. He threw them into the car (I believe some injuries were sustained from the sharp corners) and literally sprinted back to the courtroom. How the girls managed to open those boxes is still a mystery, but before long each double-named doll was eternally bonded with her mother and life would never be the same again. (Help me out with the names here girls ... I know that two of them had the first name "Naomi".) Once the dolls were easier to come by, a few more joined the family, but none held places of honor like those first three.
So ... that's what Cabbage Patch Kids, Woolworths and Jury Duty have in common. (I know it was bugging you.)
What's your CPK story?
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11 comments:
I have a CPK story, but not as dramatic as yours. My daughter was a little older during the CPK shortage, but still wanted one badly. We searched and searched, and finally my mother found one while on a trip to Kansas and paid dearly in dollars for it. That lst CPK was named Eleanor, followed by Conan when they were more available and cheaper. They are still around living in my guestroom, have quite the wardrobes (I sewed a lot), and my grandkids love them now. Sally
You almost had it right. The names are as follows:
Gin: Penny Walona (A name we swore was stolen directly from "Good Times.")
Amy: Bridget Nessie
Laura: Bridget Naomi
I think I have my other girl, Betty Isabella, in a closet somewhere here...
Thanks for the chore chart/CPK/jury duty/Woolworth's recap. Definitely good memories!
Mine was actually named Penny Winona, which we thought was taken from "Good Times" because that show had secondary characters named Penny and Winona and what are the odds? Point being, I think the primary benefit of the CPKs was not that we did all of our chores but rather that we then had something to do that summer besides watching "Good Times."
I still have a very vivid memory of when Pdaddy threw those bags and boxes in the car, while running (I don't even think you came to a complete stop) and then taking off at a mad dash toward the courthouse.
You and the sisses have covered my CPK story, but I will add the fact that Miss Dub recently got a 25th anniversary CPK doll in the mail ... and the name was Griselda Anita or something.
Clearly, the naming has not improved.
I always love hearing that story .We had homemade cpk's from my Gramma Smith and they were cool but eventually had pen and marker makeup.
ditto on brooke's remark...
The CPK incident was so much more fun than the fact that despite being a lawyer and MADD member I got put on a DUI jury, sat through a week-long trial that only was in session an hour a day (in openings in the judge's over-booked court calendar) while we sat in the juring room 10 hours a day, and then got picked as an alternate and didn't get to to deliberate. Not nearly as uplifting as some of your commenter's jury duty stories, but wonderful for getting the girls their CPKs.
The first Christmas of the CPK craze, my 3 girls could care less about the unusual looking dolls. That is .... until about Dec. 10. Then a CPK was #1 on their list! I wasn't one to fight crowds or camp out at a toy store so for the first time ever, Santa wasn't going to come through. While mentioning my sad plight at a Relief Society function, lo and behold, one of my friends had 2 extra ones and another had one! It was a CPK miracle!
I loved my homemade CK from Gma Smith. I took it everywhere! I remember that my neighbor Carrie had a collection of like a million dolls.....just one of the things annoying about her.
p.s I meant to write CPK. not CK.
What a great post about the CPK's, it made me smile. I never had one, but I adopted my sister's old one along with a care bear. I'm so glad to hear that you too fold your towels with raw edges facing away! ;) PS: I don't think I ever mentioned it, but I LOVE your profile picture, it's so lovely!
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