Good Imagination or Bat Crap Crazy?

A good imagination is a sign of creativity. This has been a firm belief since childhood. This belief was fostered by my mother. She would always comment that I could entertain myself for hours playing with toys or other objects that were commandeered as toys...they may in fact have been poker chips, coasters, and straws. Anyway, being imaginative and creative was a valued or at least a highly praised activity as a child. My brother and sister and I all had imaginary friends that were talked about at the dinner table like a relative visiting from out of town. Occasionally, when I reflect on this from the perspective of an outsider the creativeness that was fostered may appear slightly crazy. Perhaps even absolutely bat crap crazy. Fast forward to 2012, none of us are certifiably crazy or even medicated. In general this encouragement of creativity has helped me think out of the box and generate ideas rather quickly. I can make up icebreaker activities (which I hate) faster than anyone else I have ever encountered.

Note: I defy you to introduce me to any person with a degree in education or social work that does not share my disdain for icebreakers. It is a too much of good thing situation.

I digress, as the creative are wont to do. So I often wonder how many other people had imaginary friends as children? I asked my freshmen year college roommates this question, only to get the reply, "I had real friends". Ouch! True and painful story. Thankfully twenty years, gin, and real friends have healed that emotional smackdown. Needless to say, I have not polled very many people on this question since then. My siblings and I still will mention the imaginary friends, by name, in a nostalgic way. My kids are very entertained by the stories. None of us hear from the imaginaries anymore, and have not since about age five. It is funny to recall the funny situations that imaginaries participated in. Often the imaginaries would take the heat for bad behavior or little whoopsies. Whether any of us really thought (in our child minds) that the imaginaries did any of this or not, is up for debate. The imaginaries may have just been the perfect scapegoats, when they were not participating in other adventures in our over active imaginations.

So who else had a fabulously awesome imaginary friend as a child? I firmly believe that it just makes you a person with remarkable imagination, NOT bat crap crazy.