When I was a kindergartner my sisters and I begged my mom to get us Barbies.

She said no for a long time because it was too expensive, but one day she finally caved. She got us all beautiful Malibu Barbies, the most popular ones at that time.

I took that Barbie home, played with it for about a week, then completely forgot about it.

My sisters didn’t last much longer.

Our barbies went in a toy box, unused and forgotten.

My mom was upset we made her spend so much on something we didn’t even like much.

So she told us if you play with your Barbies and you love them enough, they’ll come to life.

My sisters and I took our Barbies everywhere with us from that point on, we wanted our Barbies to come to life so bad.

I told Barbie my every secret. She came to kindergarten with me. She took baths with me. I made my friends include her in our games during recess. She sat on the bleachers during my soccer practice.

This went on for two years until some kid asked on the bus, why do you carry your Barbie around everywhere? It’s weird.

I told him my mom told me if I played with her and loved her enough, she’d come to life.

Everyone on the bus laughed at me. Everyone. They made fun of me for two weeks. I can’t believe you thought Barbies could come to life!

I was mad at my mom for two weeks. So were my sisters.

I still bring it up to my mom sometimes, and we laugh.

She says, at least you played with your Barbies!