Barbie 40 Something Mag -

The biggest win of being 40-something? We finally get what Barbie was trying to teach us all along: Ken is just there.

Now, at 40-something, we aren't asking, "What can I be?" We are asking, "What do I have to take off my plate to get eight hours of sleep?"

Remember when the biggest decision Barbie had to make was whether to wear the pink heels or the purple ones to Ken’s beach party? barbie 40 something mag

Let’s talk real estate. Barbie’s Dreamhouse is iconic. It has a working elevator, a slide from the bedroom to the pool, and a corvette parked out front.

You have been through enough life now to have a few "splits" that didn't heal right. You have the drawer in the kitchen with the mismatched Tupperware lids. Your hair has grays (that you may or may not embrace). You have lost the corvette keys more times than you care to admit. The 40-something Barbie doesn't care about being pristine in the box anymore. She is out of the box, drawn on with Sharpie, and still standing—even if she is a little bit crooked. The biggest win of being 40-something

But now that we are Barbie’s age (arguably, she’s perpetually frozen at 19, but let’s be real—we’ve aged, she hasn’t), looking at her hits differently.

If you are a 40-something woman, you likely have a complicated relationship with the original 11.5-inch blonde. We grew up in the golden era of the 1980s and 90s Barbie—the era of the Barbie and the Rockers big hair, the Magic Moves bending joints, and the absolute cultural chokehold of the Barbie Dreamhouse (the one with the actual plastic elevator). Let’s talk real estate

Ouch.