Gaining a New Perspective

Our household has nine persons. Five of them actually eat food and participate in animated family life. That leaves four short members of the family: Kerstin, Elizabeth, Emily and Chrissa. They never soil their clothes, do not ask for seconds, and don't add anything to our toilet paper budget. They are American Girl dolls.

Have you heard of this phenom? American Girl dolls fetch about $90, and then they belong to the upper crust of toys. In fact, it doesn't seem quite right to call them toys. American Girl dolls are more like companions. They travel (not taking much space) with us on long trips. They have a miniature closet full of outfits for any occasion.

Each girl owns two dolls. They received their first ones as gifts from mom and dad. Their second dolls were purchased by themselves! We're proud of that fact as mom and dad.

Kerstin has a problem. She is dealing with unnatural hair loss. She has been brushed and brushed and brushed, sometimes not so carefully. Now it's time for a new perspective. She will soon be sent by postal service down to California to the American Girl Doll hospital and receive a new head. She is having a head transplant! Guess who's paying the price for that seemingly delicate surgery? My oldest daughter!

Hmm, Kerstin's body is getting a new head. A new way to see the world. If only such a radical change were possible for humans. It's true that something heard, something experienced, something felt will give us quite a different lease on life, a new perspective. It is possible to have such a new way of seeing things, that the old way is history.