The only way I can tell you that is to share a story. As young children, my siblings and I had the distinct advantage of growing up in a cash-strapped family. Our family fortune was in the innovative mind of our mom. She could create great treasures and magical experiences out of little to nothing.
When we need to go somewhere but lacked the dime to ride the city bus, she provided vivid instructions on how to “put on our hiking boots.” Keep in mind that if we didn’t have money for the bus, we certainly didn’t have money for hiking boots. But your imagination doesn’t cost a dime, so on went the boots. We’d struggle a bit to get them on. Work very hard at lacing and tying them up, and then, by golly, it worked! We could march on for miles. If our tired little feet grew weary of walking, we’d sit down. Take a short break, tighten up those non-existing laces and trek on with all the get-up-and-go needed to reach our destination.
Sometimes our journey would lead us on a shopping spree where there were no limits. We would walk by each store, all lined up and go window shopping! The currency used with window shopping was imagination, which made us rich, rich, rich! With each purchase, you offered up a captivating story to your shopping buddies.
My mom also came from a family where you used your imagination and honed unique abilities to create what you needed in life. One of those skills was sewing. Of course, Mom made most of our clothes. In fact, I only remember receiving store bought clothes one or two times before I hit my teen years. When our pants got too short, a little ribbon added to the hem stretched their life out another few months. She often sold some of her creations to make extra money especially if one of our birthdays or Christmas was around the corner.
Another of mom’s inventions was a very special sugar cookie. These cookies were made for every single holiday of the year, probably even Ground Hogs day! Now, without a lot of money for decorations or party supplies, mom needed a creative way to help us celebrate these days. Mom would get out her rolling pin, giant Tupperware bowl and food coloring to match the occasion. But it was the large bag of cookie cutters that told us it was Dippsey Doodle Cookie time! Man, we would get excited. We would sift through each cutter, selecting those we wanted to use to commemorate the day. There was no right or wrong choice. Just fun; plain, simple; loving fun. Now, you couldn’t make Dippsy Doodle Cookies without slapping a 45 on the record player. Top billing was from Peter Pan Records: Dippsy Doodle Dragon. And that’s what this is. A collection of imagination and creativity; a Dippsy Doodle. So “if you’ve got a bundle of curiosity, and if you really wonder what this possibly could be. Get your imagination out in Dippsy Doodle town…”
P.S. If you’d like to hear the Dippsy Doodle Dragon song, here’s a YouTube link: YouTube Dippsy Doodle Dragon Song