Jumping for Barbie Clothes

 

Jumping for Barbie Clothes

When I was a little girl, we swam often in our neighbor’s pool.  The Blackers were very generous to share their beautiful pool with us.  They used our water to fill it each summer as we had a well.  In exchange, we could swim whenever we wanted.  We went there most days. 

Their daughter was Janis and she and I were very good friends while growing up.  She was three years older than me.  I was very frightened to jump off the diving board.  I would go and stand out on the end of the board and shiver and shake, trying to muster the courage to jump in.  Time after time, I failed.  I walked back off the board without jumping.

One day, after many failed attempts, I walked out there again.  I shivered and shook and tried to muster the courage.  The tipping point came when Janis said, “If you jump, I will give you that Barbie outfit you love.”  She and I played Barbies a lot and she knew I loved a certain Barbie outfit: grey pencil skirt, orange sweater set, high heels.  “Really, you’ll give it to me?”  “Yes, but you have to jump right now.”  That was an offer too good to refuse.  I gathered my courage and leapt off the board.  I remember when I came up for air, I said, “That was fun!”  and swam easily to the ladder nearby.  After that, I found I loved jumping off the board, and never was scared again.  All it took was a Barbie outfit . . .and a little courage.

I wanted to find a picture of something close to the outfit I jumped for.  I found the exact outfit on eBay.  Can you believe it?  It is the exact same one I jumped for!

 

This is me at the pool when I was older, watching my brother do a flip off the board.  You can see the end of the board in this picture.  The ladder to climb out was just a little bit to the right of the picture.  I was so blessed to get to swim in this pool frequently.