Uh oh. Here I go! Everyone knows that I have an obsession with Hello Kitty. I have a HK email account, tons of stationary, pens, pencils and.... a tattoo. The tattoo was dedicated to my favorite people, my daughter and Hello Kitty.
I first saw HK when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was walking home from the store in the rain and saw a red square thing on the ground. I saw it had a cat on it, and she had a bow. I picked up the thing and found out that it was a teeny tiny address book with a keychain on it. I took it home and dried it out. I didn't really use it because I wasn't allowed to use the phone so there was no use putting numbers in it. But I kept it because I thought it was sooo cute.
After finding the address book, I started seeing Hello Kitty in various places, usually on Asian students who went to school with me. I could not find it in my hood anywhere. And my mom was not about to drive me around on a mission to find some 'damn cat'. So I forgot about Hello Kitty and would occasionally remark on her cuteness when I went to Shiga's on the Ave and saw thier Sanrio section. UNTIL.....
I had a child.
Something about having a child brings out all manner of nostalgia in a parent. You want to give your child everything that brought you comfort and happiness when you were a child. I bought Really Rosie and Free to Be... You and Me and sang it badly and loudly to my child. My child is 9 and can sing those songs backwards if she wanted to. I wrapped her in blankets because I remember my grandma and me sitting on the couch with our blankets on our laps watching TV. I buy maple nut ice cream and make coca cola floats with my daughter because that's what me and grandpa did while watching Dallas, the Dukes of Hazzard and 60 Minutes. It was also the ice cream of choice for summer BBQ's.
My homelife was a doozy growing up. We were a crazy mix of all American and all loony. My dad walked around the house in his tighty whiteys. My mom not only took her shoes off at the door, but also her skirt and bra. I really did read Playboy for the articles because they were in the bathroom near the toilet when I went to do my dootie. My mom would scream at us a lot. My mom should not own a gun. We found that out the hard way.
Hello Kitty somehow represented the sanity that was missing from my home growing up. My parents provided for us, but man, sanity is hard to come by. My mother was depressed and snapped in anger a lot, I suspect she has other issues too, but nothing has been diagnosed. My dad was protective of us and he would swing his bat if he thought anyone was trying to hurt me, but sometimes I felt overprotected but underprotected at the same time by him. Hard to explain that one.
So ANYHOO- I grow up and have this beautiful little girl and all I want to do is kiss her and make her happy. What better way is there to subconciously say "I love you and I am sane" than Hello Kitty? So I have a lot of HK stuff and my daughter has been indocrinated with the HK way of life, though I know she likes the Bratz line of crap. She doesn't have to like the kitty, but she must know the kitty.
So I have tons of Hello Kitty stuff to prove to my daughter that I will always be there for her and never chase her through the house with a butcher knife, or shoot a gun off at her and barely miss. But I know that I still think she is awfully cute and would collect her various products regardless of a crazy mother.
Hmmmm. I never realized it was so dang deep before now. Wow. Self discovery.