Did you have an imaginary friend?
I actually had many imaginary friends. We didn’t live close to many children my age and all I had were my younger brother and sister, so I turned to the world of make-believe quite frequently to provide my entertainment in the world of play. I invented many imaginary friends to play with me. There were many princesses and princes, but some were just plain old kids who liked me for me and played along with what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. We could play house or school or go hunting in the woods for fairies (in fact, I had a few fairies as friends). They rode pretend bicycles with me on the paths in the woods since I wasn’t allowed to ride on the highway. I could tlak to them about the books I was reading and in some cases they lept off the page and made the book come alive. My imaginary friends made my childhood bearable for me. They never abused me or criticized me or teased me. They made me feel special. And I made them feel special, too. They were great friends to me. I don’t know what I would have done without them.
