Salute to our imaginary friends

Patrick had a problem. No matter where he went or what he did, no one could see him and no one could hear him. He was invisible.

Then one day he met Ellie. Ellie could see him. 
 
“Why do you look so sad?” she asked.
 
And, Ellie could hear him.
 
“Why do you stomp your feet when you walk?”

Patrick became Ellie’s best friend. Where Ellie went, Patrick went. 
 
When Ellie went to school, Patrick went along and helped her learn.  
 
When Ellie went to the beach, Patrick went, too, and they built sandcastles together.
 
And when Ellie was sent to her room for being naughty, Patrick kept her company.

Patrick liked that he wasn’t invisible anymore. And he especially liked that Ellie included him in her play and talked to him. He wasn’t lonely anymore.

It didn’t matter to him that no one but Ellie could see him or hear him. He had Ellie and that was good enough.

But one day, Ellie stopped talking to Patrick. 

A child's imagination

I love the way kids see the world.

I see a stick and think trash. My son sees the same stick and sees an alien blaster. Wow! What an imagination.

I always thought that the best part of childhood is imagination. Often children who are imaginative grow up to be creative thinkers and writers. Despite not recognizing the stick as an intergalactic weapon, I think I have a pretty decent imagination. How about you?

Can you think of some things you heard kids say or describe that showed their imagination? Here are some to get us started on a list.

1. A kid describes a crescent moon as the tip of a fingernail.

2. Why does the sky cry? Asks a child when it rains.

3. I want to see the bouncing lights. (Lightening bugs)

4. I picked you some pretty yellow flowers, Mommy. (dandelions)

Perhaps if we looked at the world through a child’s eyes we might rediscover its beauty.

Now, you're turn.