Beauty can often be found in the ugliest of places. This is a common concept that shows up in life. Memories that associate with certain things can mean more to you than the object itself but these are the tangible things that you keep sacred to your heart. My baby dolls, for example, are dirty and ragged and to other people they are useless pieces of cotton and stuffing. To me, they are cherishable pieces of my childhood that I will always hold on to.
The times I remember from my childhood were always shared with "Baby". From car rides when I would buckle her into a car seat to trips out of town or trips to a friend’s house, Baby always came along. I remember her always being a great listener, a good friend, and my favorite person to play with.
I believed that Baby’s favorite place to be was the beach so whenever I was there I always brought her. I spent every summer of my childhood, and so far my life, at the same little beach in Rockport, MA that has been in my family for a while now. I love everything about the beach. I would sit in the sand for hours while Baby sat next to me and build sand castles or dig holes. I also brought her in the ocean with me, but was careful not to get her wet. I took Baby on picnics, we traveled to other worlds of pretend together, and she would never disagree with me. This was just one of the childhood adventures that Baby reminds me of.
My family saw my love for baby since I received her as a communion gift. I would not sleep without her, I would not leave the laundry room when she was being washed, and I most certainly would not let anyone else hold her. Looking back on it now shows how simple times are when you’re small. To me, that doll was the world and I only worried about protecting her. It’s funny how at a young age you go at everything with a full heart. If you love something, like I loved Baby, you protect them and cherish them everyday. If you don’t like something, you are set off completely when it happens. I don’t know exactly why this changes as you age, but it must have to do with having the realization that you’re not living in a perfect world. When you think of the love you had for your favorite toy as a child you may recognize that it is not the same type of love you have for your best friend. With age people tend to look at the faults in everything. They see the ugliness of situations before they look for the beauty. This is what a stranger would do if they saw Baby. She may be ragged and she may be worn but the memories that come along with her wear and tear are too beautiful to forget.
