D – Delores and her Reborn Dolls

Last year, I had the opportunity to reconnect with a former neighbor. She had introduced herself when we moved into our new house, next to her home, and we connected immediately. However, both of our families moved several times, and we lost touch.

Delores was a talented seamstress, a group leader for Weight Watchers for many years, and after surviving cancer herself, spent many hours as a volunteer at a Hospice. After our  surprise meeting and exchange of loving and enthusiastic hugs, we went to a Tim Horton's for a coffee and a chat. It’s hard to catch up on what has happened in our lives for the past 25 years, but she did tell me that she is now a recognized expert in the making of reborn dolls. I had never heard of such a thing, so she invited me to come to their home for tea some afternoon, and she will introduce me to some of her dolls. I was able to visit her a couple of months later, and when she gave me her address, I discovered that I drive past her trailer park on the way to the city. Pleasant surprise, number two!

When she introduced me to some of her dolls, I was overwhelmed with her creative talent. She told me that she has made over 800 dolls in the last 10 years, and her expertise is in creating life-like dolls from photos that are given to her by customers. Many of them are parents or grandparents, giving her photos of the latest arrival to the family (child or grandchild).

Here are two of her dolls… (L to R) Delores with "Happy Babe", the larger doll in the center photo was made from photos of Baby Prince George; and mutual friend with a newborn baby.