Getting by with my Imagination
My imagination has always been my treasure and my best friend. From the time I was a timid shy little girl, my imagination held my hand. Yes I sure did have an imaginary friend. Her name was Suki. I guess that’s how you would spell it, that’s the way it sounds. See, this is the very first time I’ve ever thought about the spelling. When I was five years old spelling hadn’t entered my life yet. Anyway, Suki kept me company when no one else would. She played dolls with me and sometimes I even invited her to lunch. I don’t remember if she was ever given an imaginary voice, I just remember her being there and I think she loved me because she never hurt my feelings. She never yelled at me and she never hit me. She never ever made me cry. She made me feel safe when I wasn’t. She was stable and loving and there for me. Maybe that’s why I created her. I imagine it is.
posted by pissed off patricia at 3:02 AM
34 Comments:
reach back in time & give suki a [[[hug]]]] for me.
I didn't have an imaginary friend but i had a devil & an angel i used to talk to, all the time. I always imagined the devil on one shoulder, the angel on the other. we'd have long debates, usually about moral issues. (wow, I never realized how weird that was untill now.A product of my bizzare religious upbringing I'm sure)
Some people still keep their imaginary friend from childhood. You know, the invisible guy in the sky that always makes them feel safe?
I had the Wolfman under my bed and Frankenstein in my closet - they were protectors rather than something to be feared. Seeing the Abbot and Costello versions of those movies first must have caused a reverse influence.
I like Suki. She sounds like the kind of friend we all need.
Having a Suki is a healthy childhood game and many say it is the product of a very strong inner self. In your case, I think that is definitely true. Let's hope Suki duplicates herself and wanders the earth helping all the little ones.
That's very interesting and nice. I didn't have an imaginery friend I guess because I had so many siblings and didn't need one. Only they weren't always nice.
In Japanese, your friend would be pronounced "ski".
I'd try "Sookie". You can have a Sookie of the Year. A Sookie Yuckie. A Sookie Jar...
It seems like the sensitive kids got to have all the extra playmates. Those of us who got to be captain of the kickball team were too busy trying to kick home runs and run like crazy to be worryin' about whether Sookie had the "right stuff" to be playin' third base.
As to your previous post, I wrote something similar but in a different fashion here--
http://aeleope.blogspot.com/2006/07/white-out-black-out-kiss-kiss.html
I can't take much more war and death, either...
Suki for President!! Someone who is kind, and never hurts others, and helps those in need. I'd campaign for Suki.
I didn't have an imaginary friend--I escaped into books. I started reading at a young age and the worlds I found there became my playgound. Whenever things were going badly or I was afraid, I could retreat to a safe place.
I didn't have an imaginary friend, but I was always going on great adventures in my head or drawing them on paper (come to think of it, I did have an imaginary family with about 11 kids in it). Like Sothis, I escaped into books a lot.
One of my little boys has/had an imaginary friend named Beanie (I think he's sort of outgrowing Beanie, sadly). Beanie is never here, but rather my son tells stories about things Beanie did in the past. He also has an imaginary enemy called Mean Boy.
POP,
I hope you have real friends like Suki now. It looks like you do.
Having had an imaginary friend of my own was what drew me so strongly to Neil Diamond's "Shilo"
Shilo
Young child with dreams
Dream, ev'ry dream on your own
When children play
Seems like you end up alone
Papa says he'd love to be with you
If he had the time
So you turn to the only friend you can find
There in your mind
Shilo, when i was young
I used to call your name
When no one else would come
Shilo, you always came
And we'd play
Young girl with fire
Something said she understood
I wanted to fly
She made me feel like i could
Held out my hand, and i let her take me Blind as a child
All i saw was the way that she made me smile
She made me smile
Shilo, when i was young
I used to call your name
When no one else would come
Shile, you always came
And you'd stay
Had a dream, and it filled me with wonder
She had other plans
"got to go, and i know you'll understand"
I understand
Shilo, when i was young
I used to call your name
When no one else would come
Shilo, you always came
Come today
I had one too!! I think if you talk to kids or grown ups that had imaginary friends, you will find that they are most likely to have a strong sixth sense.
Suki is obviously still a friend. Thanks for sharing her. I tend to think a girl is more likely to have an imaginary friend. As evidenced by Scott boys feel a need to project power, be it on the playfield or playing alone. In other words we(da boys) are geared to make a difference with our hands and girls with voices.
Of course that is generalizing. As evidenced by the following story.
I wonder how many of you have been an imaginary friend?
I was one. When we lived in Augusta Georgia when I was 5 years old.
We had as our neighbors Husband, Wife and their daughter Sally. Sally was a year older. And bigger. Much bigger.
She came over into our backyard where I was playing and asked me my name, after I told her, she said, "I'm Sally and your my friend". As she said this she moved closer and ended with "right"?
I kinda stuttered and though I did not know it, but she did not like any hesitation. She pounded into me, pinned me down, pulled my hair and slapped me. She bent down nose to nose and said, "Are you my friend"? I said, "I'm your best friend." She let me up and started asking the usual questions, "where you from" and such. My Mom then poked her head out the back door and called me in. Sally., said “Bye friend". As I got inside my Mom said, "see I knew you would make new friends here." "Such a nice girl to come by and say hi."
Oh yeah. The next year I gotta a lot of nice from Sally. Punching bag and all around sidekick. With emphasis on kick. She would drag me around and tell everybody, that I was her friend. One of her favorite games was the "hanging her spit over my face while pinning me down game". Oh I was familiar with it. I had 4 older brothers. But they never let it drop into my face. Well okay, my oldest brother did. Once. But it was a mistake. One day she dragged me into the words and said, “your gonna be my blood brother". She pulled out a HUUUUGE needle jabbed into her finger. She did not even flinch. She grabbed my hand and jabbed me. Pressing our thumbs together she looked deep into my eyes and said, "We'll always be together. Where ever you go, I'll be with you.
(little did I know what she knew. We were moving soon to my Dads' next duty station.)
A few days after that, she came over and started her pin, slap and spit game. That day something sparked. I never sad bad words, except maybe sneaking in a "G**damned" with the boys. I did not like the taste of soap much when my mouth was washed out by my Mom or having my mouth taped shut. However on this day the fire inside me just erupted and I yelled at the top of my lung, "YOU F*****G BITCH GET OFF OF ME!
She said, "Ahha! My Dad is home and he heard you. He will tell your Dad what you said." Laughing with glee, she got up and skipped away. I looked over at her house and sure enough as usual, her Dad was home. I could see him at their kitchen window. Washing the dishes. And as God as my witness as usual he was in a flower print apron. In my older years I kinda got a better picture of my former neighbors particular family dynamics.
Her Dad and I locked eyes and he just shook his head.
The next day I was called up to my parents room by my Dad. I must say I prefer soap over hot peppers.
Sure I cried and puked, but what really irked me was having to include Sally in my nighttime prayers. After I got through and ended with my teacher "God Bless Mrs White" my Mom said I forgot to include Sally.
"May God Bless Sally".
Peace. And remember, no hitting. Speak with your voice.
Even as an adult, I still have imaginary friends, usually in the guise of characters I've created. There are generally seven of them.
A month before I asked my wife for a divorce I went for a walk in a nearby state forest and held a round table conference with them. The silence and solitude was a great help. Four hours and nearly eight miles later, a consensus had been reached.
Yeah, I know it sounds odd - but then, try to define 'normal.'
I heart you for this post PoP. I had one also. And you took me back to a time when life was simple and the worst that happened was to be alone with our thoughts, wishing for a friend to share them with.
Hi. I liked reading your blog.Its a nice blog.Thanks for sharing :) .
I escaped into books as well. Or I'd create my own world inside my head. Writing my stories wasn't safe - so I'd think of them, memorize them and go back to them whenever I had the chance. Reciting those stories in my head became a wall against the ugliness that surrounded me. I could shut out my mothers voice by doing that – and anything that silenced that bitch was a welcome relief. Somehow I think you understand exactly what I mean.
I didn't have one. I don't consider myself very imaginative either...so I guess I'm not. I'm an only child and I tended to "overly" love animals...I think they were my best friends...that's why I am not so good with people even now. Interacting on the blogs has been good for me as opposed to being with people. As a child I was my own best company I guess.
I wonder if Dubya has an imaginary friend *snicker* My daughter had one named Dickie...when she was about to get in trouble for "bad stuff", she blamed Dickie.
I had an imaginary friend, his name was Steven and whenever I was in trouble for ripping my hem, or falling out of a tree I felt a little braver- that it happened with him...he was my buddy..but when I was 8 we moved to a neighborhood and my new best friend was the boy next door...( no girls in our neighborhood) and suddenly Steven just wasn't around anymore...and I was also reading alot by then...so books and the boys in the neighborhood became an escape ( my sister wanted to play with Barbies and have tea parties...but the boys wanted to play Pirates...gee it was not a hard choice.) My son had an imaginary friend...Fred- he was given a spot at the table many nights..and then one day he was just gone..I was sad to see him go...
Reading was always the main outlet for my imagination. I loved some books so much, and the characters became so real to me, that I was sad when I finished the book. I'd feel a little bit lost until I found a new book to read.
Remember "Gretchen" from Father Goose, the movie starring Cary Grant?
I had a couple imaginary friends when I was a kindergartner. Think it's one way of coping when you're taken out of your home and put into an institutional setting like school.
I love reading about everybody's imaginary friends! I not only had several of them when I was a kid, I also had an imaginary mother (don't ask)...
According to my mom, it would sound like I had a dozen kids playing with me in my room...I used a different voice for each imaginary friend. Apparently I had a grand old time with my invisible pals. And no, I wasn't an only child, nor did I lack for real live friends. I was just happily schizoid, I guess!
Yall are gonna die laughing. Or maybe not. My imaginary best friend was a Native American man on a pinto pony. I kept bags packed in my closet in case he ever materialized to take me to my real home, the prarie. Now I am so Southern I don't know how I would know about the Prarie or even Native Americans at age 4. But he was it for me. Hey! I need to revive his ass!
How do you know she wasn't "real" in some form or another? We live in a quantum universe and the old classical forms of explaining "reality" don't always work. Just postulating.
My friend was an owl. I don't know why. Hmmmm...
From Lew S. to Culture Ghost, that's quite a range of interpretation and reaction.
Your own sounds right to me - that this was a constructive way for you to fill psychological needs that weren't being fully met at the time.
I've been, On the Road," myself delving into half-assed adventures in getting caught in craziness is one way to forget about the shit thats going on...
Mccs1977
Patricia - what happened to your blogroll?
People need practice at social interaction like everything else, so when they are little kids they create imagnary friends, much the same way a teenager sings to the mirror, plays air guitar and performs in front of an imaginary adoring audience.
Patricia: My friend's name was Mary, and my Mom always made sure to invite her over (figure that one out) when my older sister's were ignoring me.
Mary, like Suki, was all in my imagination, but man, could she dance!
From the time I was a timid shy little girl, my imagination held my hand.
Awww... I mean it. You just jerked a tear!
You're beautiful POP!
I like to comment before reading teh comments so I don't lose my take on the post:
These comments were Awesome! reading.
I could, unfortunately, relate to Human's the closest. You did nothing wrong and paid for someone else's evil upbringing. GODZ will my life feel better when I can let that shit go already...
I'm not paranoid. My imagination really is tryin' to kill me. {sighhh}
People like y'all are such a great and helpful find for me.
Thanks for speaking up!!!
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