Our Story

I’m Marty McGee. These dolls started as an expression of part of my inner journey.

I’ve never found anyone better to tell their story than the dolls themselves.

So let them tell it.

Our mom, Marty, had faced some hard times in her life, losing her mama when she was little, other stuff too, but divorce just about did her in. When her life began falling apart she went to see a counselor who knew a thing or two about how to handle hard times.

Gently, the counselor asked, “So you’re hurting? Don’t like getting out of bed? Could you be angry? Scared? Sad?”

“No! NO! and NO!” Marty replied.

“Hmmm. Everyone has these feelings sometimes,” said the counselor with a smile. “Think about it.”

Well Marty did. Between that session and the next she began to feel really riled up. Every little thing got under her skin. Tears welled up. This worried her. What could she do?

“Embrace your feelings!” the counselor said, “Hold them close! Let them move through you. It’ll take time but you will feel happier.”

Marty couldn’t at first. Too scary. But we kept coming back. We hung around a lot. She started to get to know us a little. She still tried to push us away, she got busy to distract herself but we stayed. She took on more jobs. We clung.

Finally she realized that we are part of her. She believed what the counselor said, but . . . how could she do it? How could she ever actually embrace these feelings? Well, Marty’s a very hands-on lady, she needed something real to cuddle.

 

(continued)

Boy Holding Doll So here we are! We love hugs. We’re betting you will too!

After Marty had us to hold close for a while, she finally showed us to some friends. Guess what! They wanted to have us to hug, too. Marty thought that would be good, but she couldn’t part with us even for a minute. (Isn’t that sweet?)

Marty mentioned this to her daughter Trish Heatherman who said, "Well, I want them too! Maybe you ought to make a lot of dolls."

"I don’t think I’m up for making any more, but I’d love other folks to be able to have them if they want them."

Trish’s eyes lighted up. "Why don’t we hire someone else make them for us? I’d love to help. Let’s do it!”

Right away they began to work on getting a lot of us made. They got even more ideas. Organic cotton - yes! Low impact dyes - oh, yeah! Fair Trade - a must!

We couldn’t keep up with all this. What did these words mean? Little by little we learned about it. Now we want to tell you . . .