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April 12, 2005
When I was Eight
I used to have a small collection obsession with these little mice dressed up in costumes matching their stature. (Initially I wanted to write about these little mice in little costumes but I thought writing about little mice was darn cutesy enough) I'm not really sure what it was about these little mice that attracted me, perhaps it was their stature, or their stature (less than three inches tall), or the softness of their fur and tails, but collect them I did.
I have about ten of them nestled in a wooden box with little compartments at the top of the stairs as my parents’ house. A chimney sweep and a maid. George Washington and Betsy Ross, a clown, a doctor and a nurse, maybe another one or two I cannot quite visualize. Quite a curious thing for a child to collect, really, since it's not like you can play with them. I mean, what kind of scenario can an eight year old create between a clown dressed in pink and a chimney sweep with a little broom made of straw?
I remember going with my mom to one of the few stores in our vicinity which sold these goofy mice which you cannot play with. It wasn't in our town, but the next town or two over in Massachusetts. It had a historic feeling, like it was forever the bicentennial, like many towns surrounding Boston did at the time (several years past the bicentennial). And then we moved, far far away where mice dressed up as little people from some other era were no longer available or important. Instead we played with apricot pits. And we called them gogoim. And while perhaps that sounds like a big step in the wrong direction, at least with those I played. There are so many games one can play with apricot pits.
Your grandparents were in charge of making sure you had more than the other kids in the neighborhood. The key being having grandparents without too many grandkids because otherwise you are really taxing their digestive tracks (not that I was particularly aware of that at the time but now, looking back, I now mine really really love me to the point of suffering).
I was sad when we moved back to the place where little mice in fancy clothes could at one time be purchased to learn that well, the line has been discontinued. People no longer collected such things. I would be surprised if Princess Diana ever became a mouse, this craze was just before her time. Like the Bicentennial, life moves beyond these things to make room for others.
I haven't played with an apricot pit or sought out a mice dressed up as a celebrity in more than two decades. I wonder, is there a Jane Goodall mouse?
Posted by talia at April 12, 2005 11:36 PM
Comments
I could hook you up. I know a store that has such things, also all sorts of weird dressed up creatures, but i think they are embalmed. Not quite so cute....unless that is what you are referring to?
Posted by: Gizella at April 13, 2005 4:29 AM
I wonder if this has anything to do with "Let Me Dress You." (http://www.pampoosh.com/clothing.htm)
Posted by: Your Fiancee at April 17, 2005 10:38 AM