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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Imaginary Friends

Yesterday, when I spoke with my mother, she told me that she had been watching a TV program in which a man told of visiting another country where the folks couldn’t pronounce his name. Thus, they called him “Geek-Geek.” What captivated my mother about the story is that she remembered that when I was a small kid—about two or three years old, she thought—I had a couple of imaginary friends who I named “Geek-Geek” and “Chip-Chip.”

Of course, I remember Chip-Chip and“Geek-Geek! One seldom forgets one’s closest friends, even if they only existed in one’s mind. I cannot remember the games I played with my imaginary playmates. I cannot remember what they look like. In my sixty-one-year-old mind—perhaps because of the cartoon character’s Chip and Dale and one of my playmates being named Chip-Chip—I picture them as chip monks. Of course they weren’t chip-monks or any other animals. Not even my totems. I am certain they were projections of my young self.

I now have no imaginary friends. That’s good. I have read that it is normal for children to create imaginary friends; it is abnormal for sixty-one-year-olds to invent imaginary friends. Not that I desire to be normal. However, I would much prefer for folks to consider me eccentric than abnormal.

So today, with my mother’s reminder, I remember and salute my imaginary friends, Chip-Chip and Geek-Geek, wherever they may be.

5 comments:

  1. Do imaginary friends age with us?

    It has me thinking...

    xxx

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  2. Were you an only child when you had an imaginary friend? I had one too, though, don't remember much about it...but I think it was partially because I was an only child until I was 7 and sort of lonely.

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  3. i had imaginary friends (and pets)! but i was one of 9 kids and there were lots of kids in the neighborhood to play with. i guess i just have always had a really active imagination!

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  4. When we first moved back home Steve told people he had 2 brothers - one was 30 and the other was 80. His daycare teacher had to ask me just to be sure he was my only one.

    He does not say that anymore - I think they helped him with the transistion.

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  5. I believe children with imaginary friends are very creative. It is so with my youngest daughter. She had two imaginary friends and has always been interested in the Arts - singing, dancing, writing, etc, and is been good at all those.

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