Nostalgia strikes again!

Today's Daily Challenge sounded like fun:
Share 3 small things that made you happy when you were a child or teenager.

The first thing is playing Barbies with my sister. We would spend hours in our basement making up a little world for our Barbie and Ken dolls. Their lives became a TV drama of sorts (think "Desperate Housewives"). We had good and evil dolls. If a doll got ruined, they "died" and were buried in the garbage can. We had a hair salon where we would dye their hair with markers. The sink in our basement kitchenette was their jacuzzi tub. The jukebox became a dance club. We also liked to make clothes for them from material scraps we got from our mom's dressmaker. We had such a blast and would even forget to come upstairs for dinner.

Next is drawing. I loved to draw pictures of people at different locations. I had a big drawing pad on my desk and would draw all sorts of details on the large sheets of paper. I even would draw in my notebooks in school if I got bored. When I was in high school, a pen pal introduced me to abstract art. I started drawing different lines and shapes and then coloring them in. Was I good at it? Doubtful. However, I found it relaxing. I even liked coloring in coloring books as a teenager. I found that calming and enjoyable, as well.

Finally, I want to share my love for Disney movies. This is focused on the animated musicals from the early to mid-90's. It started with "The Little Mermaid." I saw it the summer before freshman year of high school. Then I brought the soundtrack with me to overnight camp and listened to it a lot. When I first saw "Beauty and the Beast" in the winter of 1991-1992, I fell in love with the story and music. I saw it twice more in the theater. I even bought a book of the music to learn for voice lessons. The same thing happened when "Aladdin" came out the following winter. Except instead of buying a music book, I choreographed a dance to "A Whole New World" (with a male partner, no less). When "The Lion King" came to theaters after I graduated high school, I couldn't get enough of it and saw it even more than the usual three times. I listened to the music all the time, as well. Encouraging my love for Disney was my cousin who worked for Disney records and gave me free soundtracks. I even made a whole mix tape for Homecoming week when the theme was Disney. I made myself a copy too so I could listen in my car. Disney movies and music definitely cured my teenage angst.

Nowadays, my older son likes to draw and both my sons like watching Disney movies. I just hope my daughter will enjoy playing with Barbies so that they all can carry on some things I enjoyed from my youth.