Lily cracks me up when she plays. She is very imaginative, and we often hear her singing in big, operatic voices when she is playing. I try not to interfere, as she gets embarrassed if she knows I'm watching. I love it that she has an imaginary friend, as it reminds me of my own childhood and my own imaginary friends.
I had two imaginary friends that I know of, though I don't remember them. My parents told me stories of how I played with my husband, Harry, and I carried an imaginary kangaroo in my pocket. Harry and I got into a lot of trouble, and apparently, it was often loud. My parents' favorite story about Harry was when I came running down the hallway of our house yelling, "Don't worry, Harry! I won't let 'em getcha!!" It sort of makes you wonder why children have imaginary friends, and how they come up with what they are and how they look. I mean, why a husband named Harry? Why a kangaroo? My dad wrote a sweet poem about my kangaroo. I have a copy of the poem somewhere. I remember it begins, "I have a little kangaroo, it lives inside my mind..." That kangaroo was killed by my dad's friend when I was about four. He asked to hold it, then squashed it in his hands. It sounds awful, but he didn't have kids so he didn't realize that he had done something that I would take seriously. He was just kidding around, but apparently my mom was about an inch away from killing him when he did it. They tell me that I didn't react, but the kangaroo never came back after that. My dad's friend felt bad about it, so he gave me a toy kangaroo to play with.
My brother didn't have imaginary friends, and we always attributed that to the fact that he had a sibling to play with. I wondered if my own children would have them. Jacob never did, much to my disappointment. Matthew did, though. He had a friend named Freddy Gomez that would call him on his toy phone. Freddy didn't actually play at our house all that much, mostly he just called Matthew to talk with him on the phone. Jesse didn't have imaginary friends, but he didn't need them. He has always been very grounded in reality and followed his brothers around like a little puppy. While Lily doesn't seem to be lonely, she is very creative and has a vivid imagination. I think Jennifer Gamasill exists because Lily wants her to. Frankly, I think she created a playmate that she could boss around!
On another note, we had a wonderful Christmas. After we opened gifts here at home, we drove over to my parents' place in Perrin. Brian bought them an old-fashioned looking record player/cd player combo. I brought over some of the old records that I
Many blessings,
Jennifer
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