I was waiting in line the other day at the store when I noticed a seven-year-old girl with her mother standing in line at Smith’s paying. She was sobbing because she wanted to buy a toy. Her mother was loading her groceries when she saw her daughter weeping and turned around to chastise her. She yelled so loudly that everyone in the store heard her. The small child wept hysterically, and her mother scolded at her even more.
My thoughts wandered and I remembered the times I spent with my daughter when she was that age. We were at a Chinese restaurant on Hoover Street, near our apartment in Los Angeles. We were seated, and the waiter handed us our menus. My husband and I were contemplating what to get when my daughter, who was clutching her own menu, said, “Oh my goodness! I can’t read Kung Fu.” My husband and I were both in tears from laughing so hard.
My daughter, Lesley, is now 37 years old, yet that memory lives on and will be remembered till the end of time. I realized that my daughter and I spent a lot of quality time together when she was growing up. Watching animated cartoons and Kung Fu Theater at noon was part of our Saturday morning activities.
We were in our early twenties and had just begun a new career when we came to Los Angeles from Hawaii. But we couldn’t say no when our daughter requested us to buy her Cabbage Patch Kids. Cabbage Patch Kids were a big toy craze in the 1980s. They were hideous dolls, but for some reason, my daughter was obsessed with them.
She enjoyed playing with Cabbage Patch Kids. She used to dress them up, sleep with them, and even toss them in the shower at times. But, rumor or not, when word got out that they were possessed, I tried to take them away from my daughter, but she refused to give them up. Oh, those Cabbage Patch Kids gave me nightmares. Not because of the bad news, but because I can’t keep them apart from Lesley. She outgrew them as she grew older. But what a nightmare!
What could be causing such a stir about Cabbage Patch Kids? Who knows who started the myth, but it was one of my favorite moments with my daughter.
I’ll definitely tell Lesley about it. I’m sure she’s forgotten about it, but it’s a topic worth revisiting.