Apparently it's Barbie's 50th birthday. There are lots of different views on Barbie, that she lets girls use their imagination, that she's anatomically an improbability and bad for girls' body image, etc. 

But I loved Barbie when I was young. I loved picking out her outfits and can still tell you my favorites. And, as far as I can tell, she didn't make me grow up with an irrational desire to have a breast to hip ratio of about 50:1. 

So I don't listen to the naysayers. Here's why I loved Barbie:

1. She owned her own 3-story townhouse (with elevator!), which she paid for with her own money and never needed a husband or a boyfriend to live there with her.

2. She had ball gowns, a nurse's uniform, a bathing suit and a business suit. The woman could go anywhere and do anything and never lack for the right outfit to make her feel confident.

3. She owned her own hair salon (with working blow dryer!!), could fly a plane, knew how to operate a dune buggy, and wasn't afraid to hop in her camper and rough it in the wild for a few days. Talk about versatile.

4. She hung out with her cousin (Skipper, who I also liked, but didn't love) and her friends and had a blast - whether she was just floating around her pool (with real water!) or flying everyone around the globe in her airplane. 

5. Sure, GI Joe was around if she wanted some companionship (I was never a fan of Ken and preferred my brother's GI Joe when Barbie needed a date), but she never ditched her friends just because GI Joe showed up in his green uniform and black boots looking for some love.