My local blogging friend started a conversation on Twitter about Ariel and Belle and whether or not anyone actually wanted to be like them as kids. Whether the love you had for those characters (if you even had love for them) was the same as wanting to be them.
So I got to thinking about who I idolized and wanted to be as a kid and the first person that popped into my head was Claudia Kishi from The Babysitters Club series. I bought the new books as the came out whenever they were in my Scholastic book order that was sent home from school. It was the first series I ever obsessed over and I used to go to bed at night dreaming about being funky and creative like Claudia.
Now…was I anything like her at all? NO FREAKIN’ WAY.
Not only did I go to a Catholic school that kept me in a uniform, but I was being raised by my Dad who had no interest whatsoever in clothing as anything other than FUNCTION. We rarely had winter clothes since we were in uniforms all winter and most of my summer clothes were hand-me-downs from family and friends. It’s very difficult to be funky and creative in those situations.
I also adored Mayim Blaylock from Blossom for the exact same reasons, for what it’s worth. The hats! The leggings! The general kookiness!
I was thinking about this and suddenly it him me: I HAVE BECOME CLAUDIA AND BLOSSOM.
I mean, not literally, but in the last 2 years as I let Nikki encourage me to be a little adventurous and interested in my clothing choices, I realize I lean more towards the funky. At least when I’m wearing something I like and not just something that’s clean. When I’m dressing for me I wear things like bright tights under skirt with boots. I play around with accessories like scarves and hats and feather earrings. I mean, nothing crazy, but for my age? Probably a little too young. I’ve never cared though because it’s so much fun. And now? I realize why.
I am totally an adult trying to dress like Claudia from The Babysitters Club…about 25 years too late.
But I think I’m okay with that. I like dressing funky, when I can, and realizing where that came from? Actually makes me even happier. I like the idea that 12-year old Kim would be happy to know that someday she’ll get to dress like Claudia. At least, I hope she would like it. She could also be mortified that she was doing it as a 37-year old, but I prefer to be optimistic.
What about you? Any childhood idols that you dreamed of being?
I definitely wanted to be Blossom. I also wanted to be that girl in the movie Labyrinth.
Hands down, Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden.
I used to sit around sketching what I imagined Claudia would wear, then bring the sketches to the store for back-to-school shopping only to discover we couldn’t afford the stuff or it didn’t exist or my mother wouldn’t allow it. I SO wanted to be Claudia, but now I’ve totally gone toward lazy (read zero) fashion instead.
I always wanted to be like Claudia, too! I was (ans still am) absolutely nothing like her, but she was just so dang cool. For the record, I STILL have all my babysitter club books. And the board game. I am awesome like that.
I, for a long long time, wanted to be just like Dawn from BSC. But my mom would never buy me tofu, so I moved on. 🙂