Say farewell to Samantha...

No, this is not some sort of ransom note. I'm talking about the American Girl doll, Samantha Parkington, who is going to be put into the AG archives. You're probably wondering why I care and it's kind of a funny story. The American Girl doll craze started sometime when I was in high school. At the time, AG dolls were a collection of five or six historic dolls, each from a different era in American history. The dolls came with a series of story books centered around her life story and lots of period clothes and accessories that you could buy. These dolls we're not something you would really play with. Each doll costs about $100 and to buy all her accessories would run about two grand per doll. Today, there are about 15 AG historic dolls and also present-day dolls that you can have made to look like you... or your daughter. It's a pretty neat concept.

Anyway back to my story. When I was graduating from college, as you do, I got several gifts from friends and family. My Mom's side of the family mainly gave me various amounts of money, while my Dad's side of the family got together and gave me... Samantha Parkington. Yes, you can imagine the look of surprise on my face when I got a 2-foot tall doll at the age of 23. My aunt explained that she knew how much I love the Little House on the Prairie books and TV series when I was growing up (this was true, loved those stories) and so she thought that this gift of a doll from 1904 would remind me of those days. Couldn't I just reread the books or watch the re-runs of the show that are on every Sunday on Channel 9? Besides, the Little House series was set around 1870 so this Samantha doll wouldn't even have lived then. To truly be correct, they should've bought me the Kirsten doll who was from 1854. But, I digress. It was a thoughtful gift. So my aunt contacted me today to let me know that Samantha and her accessories will no longer be available after 12/31. She wanted me to know in case there were any pieces that I still needed to complete my collection. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I haven't bought a single accessory because, well, kids my age generally don't buy dresses for dolls.

But, if I had to pick any doll to have, I would've picked Samantha. Some day my kid is going to get a new-old doll from 1904 circa 2001 with no accessories.