Keep Smiling!

I had an incredible imagination when I was a kid. I was always surrounded by imaginary friends and playmates. I had my white panther named Cougar, various horses, and a Tyrannousarus Rex that I kept in the basement. Since I used to walk to school, the horses stayed in various people's yards along the route. If you ever go back to my hometown, I can still point out where all of my imaginary friends lived. Cougar went everywhere with me for years. When we'd drive to Illinois to one set of grandparents' house or the other, Cougar and one or two of the horses ... sometimes some of the dogs ... would run alongside the car (of course, speed wasnt an issue). I'd lose sight of them every once in awhile, but they'd come around eventually.

I guess most of my imaginary friends were animals ... there were a few others. Invisible playmates that would come and go, stop by for a discussion or an adventure. I remember always having someone to talk to. I babbled a lot to my imaginary friends. I cant imagine what the neighbors must have thought "There goes that little girl, talking to herself again .... "

Actually, all of the neighbors knew me quite well. I visited everyone. From the time I was old enough to walk out of the yard by myself, I went around and visited all of the neighbors. Every once in awhile, someone would call my Mom and let her know where I was ... "We've got little Carol over here, didnt want you to worry..." since I'd never tell anyone that I had wandered off.
My imaginary friends never came inside with me when I went visiting, they always waited outside for me. They were usually sitting under a nearby tree, or stirring up trouble nearby ...

Why dont we still have imaginary friends? It'd give us someone to always talk to. Back then, they answered when we asked questions. You could have a real discussion with a non-entity. It made life more livable, and things made sense! Go figure.