When I was in the 3rd grade I only wanted one thing, an American Girl Doll. Samantha Parkington, to be very specific. I read all the books for all the American Girls but Samantha was by far my favorite. I spen
t hours pouring over the American Girl catalog marking my preferred Samantha set up and leaving it about the house for my Mom to find, hoping she would get the hint.
Finally, after a very disappointing non-Samantha filled birthday, I struck a deal with my parents. If I finished all of my times tables by Christmas break I could have Samantha. Before the dancing an twirling about begins, I should say that I am very very VERY bad a math and this is no exaggeration. The tables where a challenge but beginning September 11, 1987 I set about making them my bitch. I studied harder than any third grader should, often forgoing playing outside after school to work on the Tables. Samantha was more important than playtime. I was a child truly obsessed.
After weeks of studying and testing I finally passed my 12th and final table. After which I completely forgot what 12 times anything but 5 is. (Hey I told you I'm not into math, no judging!) I rode my Huffy bike home after school as fast as my vans could pedal, leaving my two younger brothers and their lame-o BMX bikes in the dust. I ran into the house triumphant, waving the 12th and final times table ditto over my head. Had I known the ditty "We are the Champions" I would have
been singing it, unfortunately Queen didn't enter my life until much further down the line. I handed the paper to my mom and ran to my room for the American Girl catalog, today was the day Samantha would be mine! And she was, my mom placed the order that afternoon. Imagine my disappointment when I learned it would take 2-3 weeks for her to arrive!
From that day on I checked the porch for my Samantha box everyday. Being a girl just newly 7 years old I had no concept of how UPS works or the fact that tracking numbers existed. Had I known UPS would have for sure known me by name. After just about 2 weeks the magic day came. As I skreeched my Huffy to a halt in front of the house I saw it, the box on the porch, Samantha was finally here!! I threw my Huffy on the lawn and raced for the porch to collect my treasure. I swooped up the box and dashed inside the house coming to a crashing halt in the middle of the living room, yelling for my Mom with uncontrollable excitement. Mom mom helped me carefully open the box, freeing Samantha from her packaging. She was amazing and she looked just like all of her pictures. I was in total shock. I sat there on the living room floor holding Samantha for the rest of the afternoon. Matter of fact, I don't think she really left my side for the next several months. She cam to Thanksgiving, our family Christmas Party, Christmas (complete with a gift or 2 from "santa") and I think she even banged some pots and pans with me on New Years Eve.
A few days ago, my Mom asked me about Samantha. She said that people were selling their American Girl dolls on eBay for mucho dinero and wondered if I had checked to see the value of my doll. Naturally I checked as soon as I got back to my computer. Much to my surprise I made two very shocking discoveries....1) Original Samantha's (pre-Matel) are worth over $300 and 2)American Girl is retiring Samantha Parkington this year! I can't believe they are retiring such a wonderful Doll! Good thing I'll have my Samantha for future Wood girls to enjoy and I'll never have to say goodbye to such a wonderful childhood friend.
I'll be accepting reservations for summer in Sonoma as soon as I have my new keys. You can also go online now ans select what gifts HGTV is giving me for my housewarming party.
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