NJDiva's Home for Imaginary Friends

My son and I were watching "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" on Cartoon Network this afternoon. The show is about a place where imaginary friends stay so they won't be forgotten when the kids who imagine them grow up. It's an entertaining yet weird show. During a commercial break my son turns to me and ask, "Mom, did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were little?" I was a little shocked by the question. Then I started to chuckle. Yes, of course I had an imaginary friend. His name was Jordie. My son laughed at me and said, what kind of name is Jordie. Although, I hadn't thought about him in years, memories of Jordie begin to flood my memory. I don't remember where the name came from or when he became a part of my imagination. But, I clearly remembered spending long hours playing and talking with Jordie. We would drink tea, play house and even argue. But mostly, me and ole Jordie talked and talked. It was funny how much I remembered. Only thing is, I couldn't quite remember at what point he stopped being a part of my imagination. So, when the show went off, I called my mom to ask her if she remembered. She told me that when I was about 2 years old, she went into the bathroom to find the floor wet and the entire roll of toilet paper unraveled and stuffed into the toilet. She called me in and asked me about it. I told her Jordie did it. She tore my butt up. That was the last time she ever heard anything else about Jordie.

From my understanding, many children have imaginary friends for different reasons. I never really talked about mines because I've never come across any other adult who has remembered or admitted to having a childhood pretend friend. At any rate, in hindsight, I think Jordie provided me with companionship. He also helped me to articulate my thoughts, ideas, confront my fears and expand my language skills. Who knows maybe old Jordie is still around...serving as my conscience?