52 Photos Project: Childhood Games

When I saw 52 Photos Project theme for this week, Childhood Games, I pictured (as I am sure so many former children of a particular age did) the iconic game closet.  But the fact is I don't have a game closet anymore.  I don't know anyone who does.  We have a game drawer now with Trivial Pursuit, Barrel of Monkeys, Pit, Rummikub, Sequence & that's about it.

So I decided to flip back thru some old pictures to see if I could find a cache of board games.  What I found was this:  I am not the photographer, I am the subject.

 

& this really was my favorite child hood game- being holed up somewhere, reading.  I have no idea which Nancy Drew this was (I read them ALL...well all that were available at the time), but I like to imagine it is The Secret of the Old Clock.  Because this was the first book our bookclub read together.

 

Before you decide this is completely goofy, think about it.  When american women are interviewed (meaning they have done something someone considerers interview-worthy), they often name Nancy Drew as their first literary role model (take THAT Elizabeth Bennet...but don't take it too hard, we love you next).  I can remember thinking who needs Batman, Spiderman, Superman & all their crap; Nancy has way more happening than any drug-dependent superhero.  Wardrobe to die for:  check, cool car: check, amazing powers of sleuthing & keeping the weight off from having dessert with lunch:  double check.  Also, she doesn't try to hide who she is, she isn't all melancholy hanging out in her mansion, she spends time with her friends, loves her family & treats her boyfriend like a favored dogsbody. 

 

& let's have that be the word for today:  dogsbody.  Because everyone needs one. I know I do.

What would Nancy do?

I see the stickers everywhere, What Would Jesus do? Who would Jesus bomb? & so forth. & the answers are always so obvious (turn the other cheek; he died before the trebuchet even, so I don't think it ever came up), I wonder that they bother.

I want the bumpersticker What would Nancy do? & yes, I do mean Nancy Drew. I remember when I first met Nancy. If I saved enough Cheerios box tops I could apply them to a copy of her latest adventure (The Secret of Mirror Bay if you are curious). We have been tight ever since. & I am not alone. Nancy consistently appears on popular book lists, for young girls made by young girls as well as what many of our most dynamic women leaders were reading when they were young girls. She is also consistently reviled, & mixed reviews are always my favorite.

Nancy always does the right thing, even if it does not seem to make any sense at the time. She is pursuing suspects & realizes the route they are taking conveniently passes a restaurant she has always wanted to try. She stops for lunch (seems counter productive, does it not). Guess who ALSO stopped for lunch.

Nancy is adaptable & practical. She is (now) famous for her strawberry blonde hair, but that was not her original color. A printer's error changed it on the cover of the 4th (I think) book & so she changed it going forward. & backward, too in the reprints.

Closest to my heart, Nancy accessorizes like no one anyone has ever heard of. Besides the right dress, shoes, bag, convertible, friends, dog, etc. she has her own key making machine right there at home (or maybe her friend does; Nancy always knows the right people). & travels with random & yet ultimately just-the-right thing for whatever life presents. I have a pretty big purse & I have a lot of crap in there & every piece of crap is used every day I carry that bag but at least once a day I look into my purse & I know that if Nancy were with me she would would have that magnifying glass/police whistle/coupon for 40% off my next framing order that was the whole reason I left the house. I remembered the picture but forgot the coupon. This never happens to Nancy.

I am a little worried Nancy might be too smart for us, actually. People talk Talk TALK about Barbie raising unrealistic expectations in young girls. Or Snow White. But no one ever points a finger at Nancy. Unrealistic body images are bad, but an achievable lithe, trim figure if you have the right genes & take up tennis/show riding/ski jumping/tap dancing (doubly useful if you know Morse Code) is OKay.

Even more important, you have to be smarter than everyone else, especially the boys & never let on that you are. Or at least wait until you do not need them anymore. Sure I can do it, but is that really fair on the rest of you. Yes I have conveniently forgotten I forgot that coupon. Or ever lost my keys. Nancy has that affect on me: she inspires me to be better than I am by believing I am better than I am.

//A special thanks to Jennifer Worick who wrote Nancy Drew's Guide to Life & my sister who gave it to me several years ago. I still have it in my purse & yes, I consult it every day, almost, along with the collection of Poems by John Donne (very useful for testing your memory in long grocery lines, I know Nancy would approve). I consoled myself with it when I could not find my keys; Nancy could have found my keys.