NESTING DOLLS

The tiniest one joined me each day on my adventures, perched on my shoulder or tucked inside my pocket. When I was young, I treasured a set of hand-painted nesting dolls--wooden dolls that decrease in size, opening at the middle, each placed inside another. At night, the tiniest doll would return to her place on the shelf above my bed, in line next to the progressively larger dolls, birthed by the one before it. To me, they represent the women in my family whose stories I share and who have shared their gifts with me. They have led me to envision our identities as a collage, made of bits and pieces of those who ground us the most.

I have always imagined the largest doll, with a yellow dress, as my great-grandmother. A first-generation American who endured harsh winters during the Depression in upstate New York, Katydid was larger than life. She birthed and raised ten children, and filled her 97 years with laughter and song. A staunch advocate for women’s rights, Katydid could just as easily be seen on the Capitol steps of Albany protesting, as she could in the kitchen singing Broadway tunes while cooking for the large family. It is partly to my passionate and joyful great-grandmother that I owe my boldness and determination to do the right thing, no matter what others think or expect.

I think of the next doll in line, adorned in a blue dress, as my mother’s mother, who passed down to me her adoration for travel; because of her, I long to know what it feels like to touch mountain tops and sail across blue seas. She lives for the journey, following her heart, exploring other cultures, and bringing her dreams to life. Because of my grandmother, I will always find pleasure in planning an exotic adventure that may or may not happen. She leads by example and has shown me how to appreciate our world of endless possibility.

Beside her, a doll with a green dress, my father’s mother. My “Noni” is fueled by her passion for art and the outdoors. She loves nothing more than to paint surrounded by forests, meadows, and rivers that flow effortlessly through her weathered hands and onto the canvas. She introduced me to a life of artistic expression that allows me to bring my imagination to life, in the same way that her thriving, almost riotous garden splashes color across her once-mundane backyard. Our time painting together inspired me to pursue art lessons, which continue to enrich my life. Even as her vision fails her, she wows me with her ability to recognize a wide variety of trees--their stories, their Latin names, their origins--by grazing their leaves with her fingertips. My Noni has shown me how to really see the beauty that covers our Earth and how to cultivate the beauty that lies within.

A doll in a light purple dress--my mother--gave me her compassion and her desire to understand the way others think. She is calm and gracious and thoughtful. She shows me how to appreciate the people I encounter, and leads by example, paving a path for me to follow neatly in her footsteps of service. My mother reveals herself through my studies, as I prepare to follow in her footsteps and focus on psychology and human behavior, and in my desire to make a positive impact on my community.

I am the smallest of the nesting dolls, dressed in purple, green, yellow, and blue, a collage of the women I cherish most. I am a collection and expression of their strengths, passions, and values. They have shown me how to love the life I live and embrace the person I am. I am proud of my place in the line of strong women who have preceded me and prepared me for the day when I am no longer the tiniest doll.

Isabella Erichsen is originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, and is currently a junior at the University of Richmond, where she is pursuing an Honors degree in Psychology. In addition to her major, she is completing minors in Latin American, Latino, & Iberian Studies and Data Science & Statistics, as she is drawn to both culture and the use of data to understand human behavior. After graduation, Isabella plans to pursue graduate studies with the goal of becoming a pediatric speech-language pathologist.