Invisible friends

Every kid has imaginary friends, and if they don't they should. I, being an only child, had lots. The first one was intended to replace the dolls I had been dragging around forever. Not replace them exactly, but imaginary friends could go everywhere with me and not take up any space and get themselves dressed in the morning, which I thought would make my parents happy. So, the first 'friend' came along when I was in kindergarten. I was five years old and I named her Y-la. She was a giant (or the same size as I was which really wasn't all that big) letter Y (hense her name) She came everywhere with me for years. She had an adopted sister named Triangle, who was a life sized, orphaned, fuscia coloured triangle. Later, Y-la's parents and brother and sister came into the picture too. The 'Y's' as they came to be known as lived in the blackberry bush across the street from my house.

The next family was the Mice. They were, if you can believe it, real mice (but invisible ones of course!) The main one was called Dot, and she had like twenty siblings and the whole family lived in our wood pile. For that reason my mom was somewhat relieved they weren't real. They had a little car that they drove everywhere we went. They had to go like four times faster than we did so they could keep up because they were so tiny.

I also had invisible friends who were people. There was Sally and Sasparilla and a couple of boys, but I can't remember their names. I remember there was also Uncle Platypus and Grandma Platypus (I have no idea where the platypus part came from) and Zuki the cat who had been found in a zucini patch. I put an imaginary door in the wall of the hallway right beside the bathroom door and up that door was a staircase and going up were about five doors on either side of the stairs which were rooms (kitchen, TV room, bedrooms, bathroom etc.) which is where my invisible family lived. I used to pretend that the water from their bathtub ran down invisible pipes to our bathtub and there were little plugs I had to open to let the imaginary water go down the drain.

Otter was around for a long time too. She and her sister Little Otter were, big surprise, otters. I can't remember where I got the idea for them, but I did a lot with them. When we had fish and chips I 'd have the chips and they'd eat the fish. I don't know why my mom went along with that, but she did.

I had invisible friends for probably six years before I outgrew them for good. I had a really good imagination and had a lot of fun with my "friends." It's cute now to look at little kids who make up these elaborately detailed worlds that surround them and their invisible friends, but really it's an essential part of childhood. That total immersion in make believe fun is a healthy part in becoming a good person. And it also makes cute memories that parents like to bring up at embarrasing moments when you get older ;)