I found my childhood toy (bittersweet reunion)

What a delight, a real super surprise! I just couldn’t believe my very own eyes…I had found it tucked away in the deep dark corner of my dad’s makeshift (a.k.a. DIY) tool shed. Has it been there the whole time? I had given up hope years ago…long thinking that my mom had given it to one of her friend’s children (which she had done to so many of my childhood belongings…even while I was still a child playing with them.) I really had tucked these memories away to the far reaches in the back of my mind.

THEN THERE IT WAS, STARING ME RIGHT IN THE FACE, CRYING OUT TO ME.

It had most definitely seen brighter days. It was severely beaten, chewed up, spat out, ravaged by lack of any care or attention. What is this thing I am talking about, you ask? Why, it is the SANRIO HELLO KITTY 1984 CHILD GUIDANCE DOLLHOUSE PLAYSET. This toy was my most favorite thing to play with when I was growing up…it didn’t matter how old I was. I treasured it with all my heart & then some, until I had outgrown my toys & asked my parents to put it away for safe-keeping. Little did I know that it was to be chucked to the back of my dad’s flimsy tool shed, only to be ransacked & torn apart by a family of rats…who chewed up the plastic windows, burrowed inside, shat EVERYWHERE, couldn’t find their way out & eventually died. Oh look! A new figurine for my dollhouse. Nope. That’s just a dead rat skeleton. Wait. There’s two of them, plus the fetus of the baby rat. ~~Lovely.~~

I was so extremely excited to find my childhood memories come flooding back as I found my favorite toy again. However, that elated feeling quickly drained from my body when I noticed the state of my old friend. It was thoroughly damaged beyond repair. It was such a devastating feeling. I was frantically trying to salvage whatever I possibly could. It was all in vain. Not only was it a sanitary issue, but there were a lot of chewed up parts & all of the stickers for the dollhouse had turned dark brown, beyond recognition & had also begun to peel &/or flake off. I also noticed that a lot of my figurine & furniture pieces had been missing. The ones I did find inside were from when I was a kid & had “Frankenstein’d” & pieced together my playset with another set. I can’t even remember what I had done with the original pieces. (Probably tucked them away in a storage box, within another storage box.)

Since I have no way of salvaging my dollhouse, I have been frantically searching on the internet for another one (even a “previously loved” one will do, as long as it has all the matching playset pieces & figures). To my dismay, I have been unsuccessful in my search…which kind of bums me out. I was really hoping I could regain a piece of nostalgia from my childhood & perhaps pass this toy on to my 3-year old niece or even my future child.

This is what the toy looks like in all its mint glory: