Baby Dolls and Grannies ….It’s All About The Love

My Momma was never much of a “toy” person. Once the great grand kids started coming along, she did have a toy box. I guess she thought they had fun, because she got a doll. An ugly doll. An old doll. A big doll. A doll who looked like she had been dragged around by a couple of dogs for a couple of years!!

She named her “Josetta.” I don’t know where she got the name, but the family kept their opinions to themselves, as we were expected to do!

Momma shopped for Josetta with more intensity than she ever shopped for me! She bought cute little outfits at thrift stores or on sale at Walmart..I found myself becoming a bit jealous of this plastic thing with nappy hair. Actually, Josetta has very little hair. You can see those little holes all over her head….ewwwww!

Josetta got lots of attention. She lived in the living room in a box with a quilt and a doll of her own. She had a wardrobe bigger and better than most children I know. She had her own toys and a Tweety Bird pillow.  I was afraid she was going to have a better shoe collection than I!

The kids could play with Josetta, but Momma kept her eye on them. She would be in the kitchen, probably frying something, but every few minutes she would say, “That baby better NOT be in the floor!”  or “Put Josetta rightback where you got her when you leave, and I mean it. You hear me?”

Sometimes, we would roll our eyes. We couldn’t figure out where this new “thing” came from.

I figured it went something like this….Momma was raised in poverty. They lived on very little. Her father was an alcoholic who had a good job, but the money never made it home. He was abusive, as well. Momma bounced between her real home and the homes of her grandmothers in order to avoid my grandfather and his tantrums.

At Christmas, they got nothing or very little. She would often tell me about the Christmas a family friend came to their house with a sack full of oranges. When he dumped it out, there was a little dime store doll in the bag, too. She said it was her best Christmas ever.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with having a doll. Now, if Momma had carried Josetta into stores in a car seat, it would have been a different story!!  We never, thankfully, had to have that “come to Jesus” meeting….We all just went along with her love of Josetta, because it gave us a toy for the grand girls, and something for Momma to talk about and do. Our step dad would shake his head and say, “I’m staying out of this one.

When  Momma was diagnosed with cancer, Josetta kind of went to the wayside. Momma was sick for almost a year, and we stayed by her side. Once in a while, if she was doing pretty well, we would dress Josetta and carry her to see Momma. When her condition got to a certain point, Josetta was forgotten. She stayed in her box behind a recliner. She never complained.

Momma had a lot of “stuff”. My sister and I could not bring ourselves to go through her things right away. Her death and all we had to do to take care of her services were hard enough. We often say we  went through the whole thing in a zombie- like state. We operated on auto pilot.

When we did finally brave up and start filtering through Mommas life and her things, we discovered Josetta, resting in her bed, her hair still a mess, her perpetual smile still on her dirty face. She had a little plastic baby bottle beside her, and her head was on her Tweety Bird pillow.

We both burst into tears. We clutched the doll to our chests. We cleaned her and dressed her. I held Josetta on my lap. We had to decide who would have her and set rules for the care and future of Momma’s doll.

We decided Josetta would go to her namesake, our little redheaded grand daughter.  Momma was so proud she had someone named for her. She had always described her as “red on the head and blue in the eyes.”

We packed all the clothes, blankets, bottles, shoes, and onsies, and I brought Josetta home. When our grand daughter saw her, she screamed, “JOSETTA!!!”  She held that doll so tightly. Tears streamed down my face as I watched her hug and talk to Josetta. I broke the news…..she belongs to you now.

 I thought that at 6 years of age, she would play with Josetta for a while and then go on to the world of technology, gaming and movies. No such thing!! Josetta is treated like a princess. She has had many additions to her wardrobe, and her nappy, thin hair has lots of doolollies to fix it up for trips. She has a car seat, and we take her everywhere. Our grand daughter has Josetta on her hip as she goes around the house. Josetta has a swimsuit. She has her own bag, she has a little rocking cradle, and she still has her Tweety Bird pillow, which she sleeps on every night.

Josetta goes out to eat with us and sits in high chairs dragged to the table by eye rolling waiters.

The last trip she went on with us, we had to brake kind of hard on a turn.  We heard a loud shriek from the back seat.. in fact, it was blood curdling!! “YOU ARE GONNA DIE, JOSETTA!!!!!!!! GET BACK IN THE CAR SEAT AND GET BUCKLED IN!!”

My husband and I cracked up. I laughed as I remembered Momma and the tender loving care she gave Josetta. I said, “You know MawMaw is looking down from heaven and smiling because you take such good care of her baby.”

Our precious grandchild just smiled. She fixed Josetta’s seatbelt and settled back in the seat. I looked back and she was holding a cracker to Josetta’s mouth,  whispering, “Are you hungry, Baby?”

Josetta had a great time with us that day. She even got to try bar-b-que. Her hair doololly did not match her dress, though, and we forgot her shoes, so she went barefoot all day.  I figured we would be in trouble for that.

 Actually, it did storm…with thunder and lightning…… I just know my Momma had something to do with that!! Is she still taking care of Josetta? I like to think so……..