Barbie eco-friendly bag

This new Barbie doll accessory, an eco-friendly bag made from repurposed excess fabric and trimmings from other Barbie doll fashion and products is actually pretty. But, this is not for me. Why does Mom still insist on buying me these things when I have outgrown it a long time ago.

Oh, let me answer that myself. It’s her way of reminding me that I’m still a child! And, this is actually the cheapest gift she had given me for a long time. At $9.99 for the tote bag, $11.99 for the messenger bag and $5.99 for the coin purses, Mom got a bargain, considering that the cheapest laptop in the market is $499 and a new cell phone would cost her at least $200.

Sigh. I wish they would stop talking among themselves and start talking to me instead. I hate it when they don’t include me in their discussion, especially when I know that they’re talking about me. They are trying to decide if they are going to allow me to move to New York; well, in Brooklyn actually.

I hear footsteps… finally, they’re coming.

“She’s only 16, Mac. I don’t care that she has an IQ of 180, or that she’s supposed to be writing her dissertation right now for her PhD. She’s still a little girl.”

“Paige, maybe, this is the best thing that have ever happened to her. As parents, we have been so proud of all her accomplishments. Maybe, instead of just encouraging her, we had been pushing her. This is the first time she had shown signs that is a normal teenager, rebellion.”

“But, an actress, why would she want to be an actress?” my mother was near tears.

“Let her be an actress, Paige. Allow our little girl to be whatever she wants to be. Maybe, it’s time that someone become important in this family, with paparazzi running after one of us or being interviewed on Extra. All our friends will be so envious. They will see us being interviewed on national TV because our daughter won the Oscar or the Golden Globe instead of a new software that revolutionize wireless application protocols,” my father said with seriousness in his voice.

“You’re incorrigible, Mac.”

“Maybe I am, but seriously Paige, don’t you think it is high time that we allow Milan some freedom. Let her fly away from our nest. We are not abandoning her to the wolves. We can be the wings beneath her wings instead of her jailors. She’s very young, you said so yourself. She’s 16 and has already postgraduate studies. She has at least 4 years to spare, don’t you think?”

And, that’s how I found myself living in New York with Imadge and Napster.

[MILAN WESTIN]