My Idol and I have something in common: I am a HUUUUUUUUGE fan of Fisher Price Little People.
Sadly, I do not have any now. But, when I was growing up, I had dozens! Probably millions!
My sister and I called them “Round People.” I hate to burst My Idol's bubble with our superior and original name, but I didn’t want her to be in the dark. Yes, they could be considered little. But look closer for different identifying characteristics: They are round! (And unlike their evil nemesis and impostor wannabes—Weebils—Round People are too good to wobble. They stand up like God and factory workers in China intended.)
We would play with them for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and days. So. Much. Fun. Of course, a good chunk of that time was spent bickering over who got which people and which accoutrements (as we all know, sharing is overrated). We came up with a system where we would lay out all the Round People and their round people sofas and beds and campers and patio furniture all neatly in rows (Princessa Virgo in her early days) and then the Choosing would begin. The Choosing could easily gobble up more time than the actual Playing. All hell would break loose if I picked the “good” mommy with the smooth face and Oakley was stuck with the crappy mommy with the chewed-on face and broken hair (Oakley and I did not have a dog who did this chewing. We had a toddler younger brother with very sharp teeth and a penchant for disturbing our playing time.).
Then, the next step in a successful Round People playing session was to name all our people. I am 43 years old. I was born in 1968. I distinctly remember naming my people Olivia and Isabel and Madeleine and Caroline, so I was waaaaaaaay trendy before my time!!! (Of course, the Universe got me back by giving me sons in real life, when I was ultra-prepared to name daughters. Hence, original names like Tall and Short now grace our family tree.)
My mom would sometimes give us these gorgeous gift boxes from Saks Fifth Avenue that maybe originally held a sweater or a pair of flannel Christmas pajamas. These boxes were THE BEST. We could stack them and cantilever them and make our Round People have the best modernist houses ever. Frank Lloyd Round would be proud.
I went on eBay and almost had a heart attack when I saw what Round People cost now.
Not to worry. I know Mom still has everything (including the school, garage, town, gas station, and airport) in her garage. It would break my heart if she gave them away.
MOV
("My Other Vice")
Ahhh ... When my kids were teenagers I sold all their childhood toys at a garage sale. My oldest daughter (30 yrs old) really regrets my selling a toy called Tub Town. It stuck to the bathtub and you could pour water in it and it did cool things. Our kids used to spend hours in the tub playing with it. Literally! She has two kids now and they'd love it.
ReplyDeletePS - I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteI love round people too, I actually am married to one. They don't call him the Big Tuna for grins.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Hey!
ReplyDeleteA BROTHER? What the effing effy shat skittles?
(Wow, that is a lot of diffused profanity. And I imagine shit-skittles would taste horrible. But it's a saying of mine.)
But... what happened to your brother? I can't ever recall him being mentioned. AND WHY ISN'T HE NAMED???
-Motaki, Inventor of 'Shat-Skittles' and Aspiring Falconer
"Frank Lloyd ROUND" - ha ha, loved it!
ReplyDeleteAw, shucks, MOV. You do go on. (; Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI am really missing my collection. A professional photgrapher has had my peeps for the last couple weeks. She said she's been getting strange looks from folks as she's shot them outside, all around Chicago. I can't wait to see the prints! Round People of the World - UNITE! I'm going to see if there's a Facebook for people like us now....
ha! I knew this would be a good blog that people would relate to.
ReplyDeleteanonymous--thanks for the love. and tub town sounds super fun! (I think I might like it for me)
tuna--love it
oh taki-- you are observant!! yes. the brother has a name (Chris) and he lives in England and flies jets for the Air Force (he is not british! we are not british! he is just based there). I have not thought up a good fake name for him, and I am not sure if he wants me to write about him or not?
esbboston-- knew you would catch that. :)
marianne-- if kelly is not my soul mate, then you surely are. sooooooo can't wait to see the photos!!! and I had no idea that she was shooting them al fresco, how cool is that?!
best,
MOV
When I read your title I thought for SURE you were talking about ME! Round people. You know, the kind that don't work out for four hours a day. :-)
ReplyDelete