Imaginary Friends.

[English Lady]

Did you have one?


I did. He was a horse named George. I remember clearly galloping around the playground in infant school (I'd be about 5) talking to My horse George. He was dapple Grey and I think I played with him for a few years on and off.

All this has been brought on by my 3 year old daughter. Recently she has acquired a new friend. His name is Ruba. Ruba goes everywhere with us and several times he has been left behind and we've had to back track to go and get him*L* On the park yesterday I had to push Ruba on the Swing whilst Daddy Pushed Beth.

Anyhow Ruba set me to thinking and I wondered how many of us Authorly types had an imaginary friend in our youth.

 

[Octavian]

I still have imaginary friends.
But that's only because I don't have any real ones!

Octavian
I'm terrifically popular---if I had any friends you could ask them.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

No, but my wife had two: Mr. Turbidy and Mrs. Go-glean.

She finally figured out that Mr. Turbidy was probably a corruption of "Durwood Kirby", a TV announcer who was around during her childhood.

She never figured out where Mrs Go-glean came from though.

I never had any imaginary playmates, though I did use to drop balled up scraps of paper behind my bed to fight the monsters who lived beneath it. And for a while I would set up all my army men around my bed in case the Martians attacked 2435 W. Berwyn Avenue.

I also got in trouble in Hebrew school for asking if Mother Nature was God's wife. I thought it was a pretty astute question and figured I had things pretty well doped out, God-wise. I was crushed when Mrs Greenberg gave me the fish-eye.

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

<free association>

Referring to her son, "I should have known that boy was odd when his own imaginary friends wouldn't play with him." Doralee in 9 to 5 (played by Dolly Parton).

</free association>

 

[English Lady]

octavian..it's always good to have friends

Dr M - Ahh yes I've worked out that "Ruba" is my Beth's recognition of "Wilbur" the imaginary friend of one of the Characters from Kipper the Dog.

I had ants that ran around in my brain making sure everything worked, like a massive star trek esque bridge run by brain ants *L*

 

[sophia jane]

My son's imaginary friend was named Tortilla. Don't know why, though. Strange thing to name your friend.

SJ

 

[English Lady]

Good quote Ted E

Sophia..tortilla eh? cool

 

[R. Richard]

I had an imaginary friend when I was younger. However, people around me imagined that Spike attacked them and then they would get me confused with Spike. It caused me no end of trouble.

 

[haldir]

cant remember any maginary friends when i was a skelf o a lad. got pleanty now tho - at least thats wot the psychologist says

we used to play "cowboys and indians" wen i was a kid. everyone wanted to be an "indian" cept me and one incontinent girl and i clearly remember actually seeing thousands of marauding apaches cresting the ridge of the playground and me fightin to the death. how weird is that? clear as if it was yesterday.

any friend in a storm i say

 

[English Lady]

R.Richard..well your post just confused me..so I can understand the befuddlement.

Haldir....isn't it bizarre? I remember galloping around on my pony as iff it happened too. Strong imaginations eh?

 

[Guest]

I am an imaginary friend does that count Cause I like having friends even if most of em don't like me now and think Im dumb and stuff but I can still be fun

Debbie

 

[scheherazade_79]

I have an imaginary family member called Mr Nobody. Mr Nobody does a lot of things in my house. Whenever anything's broken, or hasn't been cleaned or put back in the right place, you can always guarantee that Mr Nobody is at the root of it. All I can say is that Mr Nobody must be the busiest person on the planet

 

[English Lady]

Rideme...oh yes I'm sure you count

Scheh - Oh I think Mr Nobody shows up at my house alot too!

 

[davidwatts]

I had an imaginary friend but one day we had an argument, he got mad at me and I never imagined him again. If I ever run into him again I'm going to pretend to kill him.

 

[English Lady]

I had an imaginary friend but one day we had an argument, he got mad at me and I never imagined him again. If I ever run into him again I'm going to pretend to kill him.

It's so sad when friendships end that way

 

[Guest]

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I have an imaginary family member called Mr Nobody. Mr Nobody does a lot of things in my house. Whenever anything's broken, or hasn't been cleaned or put back in the right place, you can always guarantee that Mr Nobody is at the root of it. All I can say is that Mr Nobody must be the busiest person on the planet

Mr. Nobody shows up at any house that has children or roomates. He is also usually accompanied by Mrs. Wasn'tme.

 

[English Lady]

jammies..I guess it kinda counts

cheerful...ah yes! that's the duo!

 

[nikkijames]

Can't say that I can remember having any imaginary friends of my own, but I can relate to your child having them. My daughter that is 5 has many of them and their names seem to change constantly. I wish that she would find one that she likes and stick with them.. they mostly play with her when mommy doesn't want to or is too busy with other things

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I had an imaginary enemy....but I'm not paranoid.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

Wait, yer not all imaginary friends?

 

[Boota]

I had an imaginary friend, but he used to ditch me and play with the kids acrioss the street.

 

[cantdog]

We have a family ghost. But I was the oldest sibling in a passel of four kids-- all little geniuses, too. I had imaginary aloneness. It was restful.

We did piles of role play with and without extra people represented by toys. We'd build whole cities on the rug or build a ship and staff it with crew and passengers. I can relate to the sophisticated stuffed folks. I did puppet theater for the kids, too. Sewed them up myself. They got quite complex. I'd adapt any story in the world to my cast of puppets. Gilgamesh harrowing the Underworld for immortality, Othello, anything. Very rich fantasy life, but no imaginary friends.

The family ghost just opened doors and shut windows, things like that. Not much social interaction from Aunt Phoebe.

 

[yui]

Did you have one?

No, I didn't have one, I had scads of them. It's still frighteningly easy for me to live inside my head.

I had imaginary horses and people and once, I had an old cane fishing pole that I made as tall as I could make it (it seem like it was 30 meters tall to me), and it was a dinosaur. I walked everywhere, dragging that silly thing through the woods around our house, catching it on tree limbs, pulling down sheets of Spanish Moss, and talking to it like it was a recalcitrant horse. I passionately conducted imaginary orchestras of sand pines and water oak and orange trees from the middle of the yard, and danced many an elegant waltz with a mop named Kenji. I could go on and on…

To quote Rob Thomas, "I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell." My family accepts this to some extent. They can be talking about someone being unusual and they will say something like, "She reminds me of Yui."

I cope. I can live in this world, but what's happening inside my head is much more interesting.

Luck to all,

Yui

 

[minsue]

I didn't exactly imagine friends who weren't there, but my brothers and I had very rich and involved lives for all of our stuffed animals. The stuffies went on plane trips, got married, fought wars, and all of them had names, histories and distinct personalities. Does that count?

I was the same way. I remember the personalities and idiosyncrasies of some of my stuffed animals better than I remember even the names of my school friends.