The Un-Unsentimental Niece

  Regular readers of the blog may have read mention of my niece,which I refer to by the code name Unsentimental Niece. I call her that because, amongst other reasons, she sold off bits of her childhood for a few dollars at yard sales. However, I recently found out that she's not totally unsentimental.
  When my niece was about 5 her parents divorced, and soon afterward a close friend of the family gave her a stuffed Garfield the cat doll.

Like this one I found on an online auction. I'll remove the picture if asked.

  The giver of the doll soon became her mother's boyfriend and my niece was very fond of him. She loved Garfield until his stripes wore off. She took him to Kindergarten everyday. Soon her father became jealous of the boyfriend and gifted his daughter with a stuffed bear she named Bear Bear. My niece gave up Garfield. Bear Bear became her special toy. You know. that one toy you keep forever.
  Over the years my niece has moved around a bit. She is 38 now, and she has lived in California, North Carolina,Ohio,and repeats of the same, plus who knows where else. On her last move from California she misplaced Bear Bear. She thought he had been accidentally thrown away in the move. That was 5 years ago. She made a trip to visit a friend in California a few weeks ago and guess what?

  Said friend had been holding on to Bear Bear for her for 5 years. Unsentimental Niece was overjoyed to have him back. Maybe I will have to give her a new code name...   

A Happy Reunion: One Woman's Search for Her Favourite Childhood Doll

  I received a message in my comments the other week that led to a story I have to share with you. The message was from a lady named Debbie,who had seen my post on  Doll-A-Day 94. 

The star of Doll-A-Day 94 was this red haired girl with freckles, wearing a pretty flowered raincoat.

  The doll was the same as her favourite doll from her childhood. Here's what she wrote:
"I have been looking for this doll for a bizillion years....it was my favourite doll when I was a little girl. Any chance you remember where you found it? Or would you be willing to part with it? Please let me know. Thanks so much!!!!"
  I asked the lady to send me her email address and we would discuss the matter in private. She did, and we have exchanged several emails. I have several dolls with similar faces and bright orange hair from my own childhood. That and the pretty rain coat are what attracted me to 'her' doll. I wondered if it was the face that was the same as her old doll,or did hers actually have the raincoat too. She was pretty sure this was the same as her doll, raincoat and all.:
  "It's funny you say that you have some other dolls very similar with bright orange hair. My old doll did have bright orange hair but the same or a similar face to this one.  I then thought maybe I remembered the hair wrong,  lol. I had named her Cindy but my Mom thought maybe she was already called Cindy when she got her for me.   I have been looking for her for many many years but am going by memory as I don't have any pictures of her.  :( "

  I had described the raincoat girl as having 'strawberry blonde' hair. I sent her some pictures of other dolls with a similar face and bright orange hair in case one was closer to her old doll. She was still pretty sure it was the same doll though.
 "I think I could be remembering Cindy's hair being brighter but in reality I think it's like the flowered raincoat doll. I got the doll when I was very wee so not sure what outfit she originally came in and then one day I decided in my youthful non-wisdom to sell her at a garage sale. I've been searching practically my whole adult life for her. And this is the closet I've been ever able to find!" (It's just as I always say: Beware all you teens who can't wait to sell your childhood loves for a dollar here and there! Someday you may regret it!)_
  I had another look at raincoat girl's hair, and it was a brighter orange than I thought. So yay! Even closer!

  I was curious as to how she finally managed to spot my pictures and find 'her' doll after all these years. Here's what she said:
 Basically I have been googling "red or orange hair dolls 1960s" and it brought up a bunch of pictures as well as sites.  I was looking through the pictures and came across the doll and then clicked and found your website. Very excited as it was the doll I remembered.  When I showed my brother the picture he immediately remembered my doll Cindy.  It was fantastic.  I have spent many years going antiquing and to doll shows and not finding anything close to what I remembered about my doll. Until now.

Wow! I am thrilled to be able to reunite her with her 'lost love'!  "Cindy's" new owner is pretty thrilled too.:
 "This is sooooo exciting.  I can't wait to see my pretty doll again in person!"

   Today I got an email from Debbie saying 'Cindy' had arrived home at last.

We got the doll today. Yay!!! I'm so happy to have her here. Thanks so very much again. I can't 

thank you enough for reuniting me with "Cindy".

She even sent me a picture of the two of them, together again:

   What a wonderful story! I'm so happy I got to be a part of it!