You say goodbye and I say hello (except the other way around)

I got my first American Girl doll when I was 7 years old. I saved up for her for what seemed to be forever. I can't remember if I had to do the whole $82 or just half but when my main source of income was weeding dandelions for 10 cents a bucket, either way, it was quite the accomplishment and I was proud of it. And I loved her for many years. When I finally, reluctantly, outgrew dolls, my mom insisted in putting all my collection aside for when I had kids. That seemed such a long time to hold on to them but it made me happy not to have to get rid of them completely. Well, Sunday morning it was time for her to go to her new home. Which is also my home, but in a different room and with a different little girl for her to take care of.

Even after all these years, she was still in pretty good shape. I did get some braid spray which helped her dry hair. And some new stockings were in order. But otherwise, she looks pretty much the way she did back in the day. I actually got a bit chocked up getting her all dressed and doing her hair so I could set her next to Lucy's Easter basket.

For about 30 seconds, I felt sad that Lucy wasn't going to have the experience of earning her own doll but that quickly faded. She insisted on taking her to church with us this morning and on the way was telling me all the ways she was going to work and save her money so she could buy her a doll Christmas present because "that's my job as a doll mom." I'm glad Samantha is back out of her box and I think she's gonna like it here.

That was Sunday. Today, I was given this

It's a bit hard to read the pencil on the yellow paper but it says "Thank you for the boll." I think that's gonna have to go in my scrapbook. And I'm really glad I have two more dolls still stored. I just might have to try and add a third girl to the family so they all get used up :-)