The Obsession... or not?

It looks like reborns and reborners make the headlines more and more often these days.
After "My Fake Baby", documentary by BBC, and a segment on "20/20", even the Italian tv had a few short minutes of the news dedicated to our passion.

I know that because my mother in law supposedly jumped off her chair and said to everyone, "Those are the dolls my daughter in law makes!".

My mother in law also once said that I'm in need of specialized medical assistance due to my "obsession with dolls", but since she said so for other things, I brushed her off.

Until this week some fellow doll friends pointed me towards another blog.
www.almightydad.com/general-interest/reborn-babies-pandering-to-a-mental-disorder
(I've gotten permission from Almighty Dad to link his blog to mine, by the way).

Reborn babies pandering to a mental disorder?

Well, supposedly we are crazy my friends. Totally off the hook, "out there as a balcony", grossly translating an Italian way to say it.

We make these real looking dolls, then dress them, feed them, cuddle them, stroll them around, buy expensive furniture for them, set up nurseries... in this man's opinion we even get up in the middle of the night to check on them!!!

Although many friends of mine were pretty offended by Keith's piece, I was actually pretty amused.
I don't see myself waking up in the middle of the night if the house isn't on fire, one of the cat isn't peeing on my bed, or my son doesn't need me.
Hubby can fend for himself.

Not to mention the other allegations... the best thing about dolls is that they are available for me when I want, and not the other way around. I don't need to keep them on schedule, check that they don't wear the same clothes for three days, sign school papers, send them to tae kwon do.
I don't need to have dinner ready at a decent time for them.

Still, some things Keith said resonated with me.
Why can't we get pleasure in creating, handling, collecting our dolls, without being labeled as mental instable?
Or laughed at?
Or called creepy, and all the other nice words that are thrown at us?

Simply, why do people need to judge and put down what other people like?

Somebody told me that opinions are like hineys, everyone has got one. ;)

But still, we have the option whether or not to express openly that opinion.
And as much as in this great Country there's the right and freedom to talk, sometimes maybe people would be happier leaving other people a little bit alone.

I'm so lucky to be able to share a lifelong friendship with two persons that I hold as high as sisters.
We live a continent and an ocean apart, see each other two times a day (usually in the same month), and every time we quickly update the news, current number of children, town gossip... and then there we are, sharing the deepest folds of our souls, as if I never emigrated and we'd seen each other every week.

I have almost polar opposite views than my friends in many very important topics, starting from position on abortion, to having children, to piercings, to house neatness, to... many others.
Dolls are another thing we don't agree on.

But this is what makes our friendships so strong and important... the ability to look at the other, disagree, share opinions, sometimes fight, and still respect each other.

I'll say it out loud: RESPECT EACH OTHER.

And if for a few people a reborn makes the difference, if for somebody dolls are a "mental crutch" quoting Keith, so be it.
They are legal, and have no side effects.