I made my parents come look at things within my house and garage (as they still have soooo much stuff stored there) to see what we could purge. My Dad diligently (and precariously, I might add) climbed into the depths of the storage space above the garage and you would not believe the amount of stuff he got rid of! Before, there was only a small tunnel to practically crawl through to reach the other end, now there is soooo much space...it's beautiful!
During this adventure, he pulled out a lunch box and asked, "Wasn't this your sister's?", I practically screamed, "NO!!! That's mine!" but instead said, calmly, "No, Dina was too old for Strawberry Shortcake" (My sister is 8 years older than me). Inside, I was doing the happy happy dance of joy when I saw it!
My parents bought this for me back in the early early 1980's...back when my whole world was Strawberry Shortcake. I had the dolls, the village, the scented miniatures, the bedspread and sleeping bag, the night light, the big doll...I was a 5 year old Strawberry Shortcake Addict. Oh how I loved Strawberry! And this lunch box went everywhere with me. The thermos is now long gone and there are some rust spots on it, but what do you expect of a 25 year old metal lunch box? It's lucky to still be intact! When you open it up, the metal clasp that help the thermos is still there and the inside lid has an entire piece on child safety, not talking to strangers, etc. etc and was especially geared to those who walked to school, as I did. Oh, Aladdin Brand lunch boxes - you truly looked out for us! With your wise words and metal edges that hurt like hell if swung it at someone (I was a bit of a brute at times - it was the only way to keep the older boys from teasing you because they didn't expect you to fight back...or fight dirty).
When I wasn't using this for my lunch, I would pack all my mini's into it and cart them around the house, making them go on adventures. I had a very vivid imagination and every corner and crook of my house became a Strawberry Shortcake Wonderland. The bathroom sink was a great lake that had to be crossed and invariably, someone was going to "almost" drown, only to be saved at the last minute by her friends. My mother's hutch became a huge mountain that they all would scale (and yes, someone was bound to fall off the mountain face...it wasn't an adventure unless there was a daring rescue!)
The memories that flooded back with this lunch box...oh, what fun! It will now sit on the shelf in my kitchen for all to see, reminding me of the great joy it brought during childhood.
Did you have a favorite lunch box as a kid? Something chocked full of memories?
Have a "berry" nice day, everyone!
(oh, I know, that was a horrible horrible pun. I'm sorry! I couldn't resist. Bad, bad, bad!)
4 comments:
I love your lunchbox story. Being a tad older than you, my drug of choice was Hollie Hobbie. Oh, how I loved that bonnet she wore! I collected all of the Hollie Hobbie dolls and had Hollie Hobbie writing paper to send notes to my friends. She was very much like Strawberry Shortcake with her alliterated name and her calico outfit. They might be cousins, now that I think of it.
Oh, yes! Strawberry shortcake! How I loved my little collection of those smelly figurines. I think my favourite was Apple Cinnamon (or something similar) and one that was yellow. Oh, dear, I'll have to dig out my collection next time I'm at my parents place... ahh, the memories!
cheers, g
Hey, I used to collect that too. My favourite was Huckleberry Pie. Gracia has been trying to remember her exact favourite and tomorrow we plan to dig them out of storage and solve the mystery.
Cheers, lj
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