My Barbie House

I miss my Barbie house. I am sitting at work (obviously not working) and i suddenly remembered that i miss my Barbie house that is back in Cairo carefully packed away in its original (yes, original) box.
I remember the day i got that house, It was either my 5th or 6th birthday, I was in Gedda with my mom and sister for the summer visiting my dad who worked there. And on my birthday my dad took me to the toy store and told me to pick whatever i liked!
"Anything i like?" i asked
"Anything you like" he reassured me.
"Anything at all??"
"Yes, anything at all as long as it is one gift, pick wisely"

And like the smart kid i was, i headed straight to the big boxes section, and picked out this beautiful two story house for Barbie, which is a cottage in the winter and opens into a cool summer house in the summer. I kept that house in Gedda, to play with whenever i went there. I remember spending hours in that living room, with the comforting sound of family watching TV behind me.

My dad died one or two years later, I don't know for sure coz i can't remember if it was my 5th or 6th birthday, and my mom went to bring him home.
Somehow that woman, through that, sat down on the living room floor and packed her 6 year old's Barbie house and shipped it home to me, completely intact. Just another reminder of why she is and always will be my hero.

If i read back this post is bloody depressing, but somehow that Barbie house is a very happy memory for me, it represents both my parents unconditional love, and the memory of it makes me smile.

I miss my Barbie house.... maybe i'll bring it back with me next time i go home!
Then i'm sure the check-in people at the airport will have seen it all from me...