Imaginary Friends

I used to get on my little trike and ride around the yard lugging an old Avon briefcase with me. Inside it had some samples and some out of date books. I would park my trike at the front steps and boldly ring the doorbell. A lady would answer the door with a surprised look on her face as I said.... "Avon calling. Would you like to look at a book?" She would open the door wide so that I could stumble inside with all of my Avon gear. She usually held a dishrag in one hand and would throw it over her shoulder as she sat down to see what beauty products I had to offer. When my sale was made I would thank her, climb back onto my trike and head for our next door neighbors house. When I went through the imaginary friend stage she never missed a beat....  "What is your friends name?" she would ask..... "Susie I would say." Then I would tell her that Susie was very sick with "Sugarbeeitis" which my grandmother also suffered from. During that time when Susie was always around I would come the the dinner table to find that Mother had a place for her at the table and she was allowed to eat with us as normal as can be. Just like it was perfectly normal for every kid to have an imaginary friend. One day while we were on our way to the store I informed my Mom that I needed to get Susie a get well card because she had died of "Sugarbeeitis". I didn't get any lectures about how Susie wasn't really dead because she really wasn't a person, instead Mom took me to the card department and let me pick out a suitable card for the parting of a friend. As we left the store I told Mom how silly I felt for buying Susie a card because I didn't even know anyone named Susie. I never mentioned Susie again. When the time was right..... Nature just took it's course.  Today's typical moms are a lot different than the moms of yesteryears. Today it seems that moms feel a lot of pressure to make their children perform, be involved in every activity possible and instead of allowing them to play in the dirt and have imaginary friends, their time is strictly scheduled with practices, games and clubs with very little down time to just be kids. On this Mother's Day I'd like to say thank you to a Mom who allowed me to be a kid. I was never pressured to perform or be something I wasn't, it was just my responsibility to be a kid for as long as was possible. It's amazing what good old fashioned imaginary playing will do for you. Thanks Mom for allowing me to use my imagination and for putting down your dishrag long enough to imagine with me.... Happy Mother's Day!