Imaginary Friends

I don't know what got my mom and I on the subject of imaginary friends, but she was telling me that she always had imaginary brothers and sisters. I thought it strange that she'd imagine having sisters, since as we know, she had 3 She said her "sisters" were usually a twin, and would agree with her on EVERYTHING....

I know all four of us kids had/have very active imaginations, and I got to thinking.

I NEVER had imaginary friends... I had imaginary PETS...... I had a pet grizzly bear, polar bear, lion, elephant, killer whale, horses, LARGE dogs (Great Danes, Mastiffs, St. Benards-which are still my dog of choice. Please forgive my spelling.) and dolphins.

I remember all of those EXCEPT the elephant. My mom told me I came home from school (1st grade?) and told her that I rode an elephant to school and at recess gave all the kids rides on it. I told her that everyone liked me. So, I was SUPPOSEDLY "popular" for the day.....

If you haven't noticed, most of my "pets" are wild and dangerous animals. The bears would "sleep" at the foot of my bed, and if anyone came into my room during the night, it would stand with me between it's front and back legs. In a "protective" stance. I am thinking that perhaps I felt I "needed" protection from something or someone. Then again, it could be that these are animals that wouldn't make good pets and I really wanted them as pets.

Then again, I could've been just a weird kid... After all, I was a kid that actually believed my dolls came to life when I wasn't in the room.