How many of us grew up playing with Barbie dolls? Long legs, blonde hair, blue eyes, tiny feet, large chest and the perfect male counterpart - Barbie had it all! Although Barbie has most recently been taking hard hits from the media, charged with creating unrealistic rolemodels, I continue to love her for who she was to me then and what she represents to me now.

I first fell in love with Barbie when I was 4 years old. She looked at me through a window, at a department store. I thought she was perfect and really couldn't get enough of her. Every time we went to the store, I begged my parents to let us walk down the Bright Pink aisle - the place where barbies become walls, and everywhere you look there was a new beautiful face to see. We did not have a lot of money growing up, and even if we did my parents were not the type of people who would buy gifts like this unless it was for a special occasion.

For my 5 year old Birthday, I finally had a Barbie doll of my own. I treasured it like no other doll. I created a new voice for  her and an entire lifestyle. For me, Barbies were not like other dolls. Each time I played with my Barbie, it was like I became her. I gave her a distinct personality and life. With each doll, came a new name, voice, personality, career, lifestyle and more.

Over the course of my entire childhood, I collected 46 Barbie dolls. I remember my dad telling me I had a career in doing voice-overs for cartoons, after listening to the 46 varied voices that I had created for each doll. I never once changed who they were from the beginning. I never wrote down their names, voice style, personality or anything. I just remembered who they were.

When my sister became old enough to play with me, I was approximately 8 years old. "Playing Barbies" became a fun game for us. We even created something called "The Family Game", where every Barbie was a part of this large, extensive family. My sister, Kelly, had about 12 barbies, and they were the cousins to my barbies. We really bonded through this game. There were some nights were we both tried to rush through dinner and finish homework, so we could continue where we left off with our 'game'.

When I was about 13, I stopped playing with Barbie. I remember being 'too cool' to play with dolls anymore. My sister was, of course, devastated. She was only 9, and with no one to play with, eventually stopped her own version of Barbie-play. Before I put them to there final rest, I dressed them all up in their original outfits and stored them in order of their birthdates (how I received/purchased them), in a big box. They are presently sitting in my parent's garage, as they have been for 14 years.

Barbie will always be important to me. Despite the controversies over the years about how unproportionate and unrealistic her body is, she continues to be my favorite doll. After all, she is a doll. Do we ask Raggedy Ann or Rainbow Brite to look human? Of course, not. Barbie is one of my favorite childhood memories and one of the greatest ways I bonded with my baby sister. In my opinion - "Barbie rocks!"<