Cherri

What can I tell you about this girl... well, first and foremost she wears wigs, all sorts of wigs, and I swear to God she's picking them out herself. It doesn't seem as if she cares at all that sometimes they are quite obviously wigs. "Mom that's not the point" she says "of course everyone can see it's a wig... what, do you think people believe I sprout a new color of hair every week?"

But before I go any further into this girl's wig fetish I suppose I should begin at the begining and explain how this fixation with unrooted hair got started.

Cherri started life as an ADG medieval mood. I named her Veronica (which somehow never really seemed to suit her) and then proceeded to trim her uneven bangs... later I trimmed the unruly (and oddly somewhat beef Ramen smelling) ends of her tresses. Then a bit more trimming here.... a bit more there. I was never completely happy with the way her hair looked or felt, so I just kept trimming away at it until, well, until there simply wasn't any left to speak of.

Now don't get me wrong, I love ADGs. The more subtle smile and the more serious look on their little faces has an appeal all it's own. And the serious look she gave after I had deforested her locks was one that indicated it was time for a change.

And so it began. I changed her skin color, and gave her a whole new face up. Like Wren she also had a penchant for purple... unlike Wren (who at one point after leading me in how she wanted to look finally said "that's it, I'm finished, this is who I am") Cherri always seems to be in a state of flux.

I thought perhaps I was going mad... why was I always changing this girl? I wasn't unhappy with her, and she certainly was very pleased with herself, but over time there was always this push for change; a tweak here or there in her face up, new eye chips, another wig, okay good, now another one. She would flit to a new look and then back to an old one whenever it suited her... it never seemed to end. And then one day I had an epiphany...

She's not searching for who she is, she knows who she is, she is change. Pure and simple. She becomes what she wants when she wants, despite anything I or anyone else might say about it. If it pleases her, she does it, she doesn't care if anyone likes it or not.

And I don't know... perhaps it's therapeutic for me. Just when I think I'll never do any more customizing she gives me that insistent look that gets me motivated again. Just when I think.... what would anyone do with that fabric, she whispers in my ear what she would have done with it and I get to work. Her determination to follow her bliss keeps me on my toes. Not a bad thing during those long winter blahs when the less demanding dolls are just standing around in their cabinet and involved in their own affairs. Cherri pushes for that creative impulse that cannot be denied, that spark that lets you know that it's the process itself, rather than any ephemeral goal, that matters.

And that's when you know you're doing it right.