Imaginary Friends

           I was a dog-sitter this weekend, and I spent long one-on-one dog time that I, having never lived with one, had never experienced. I found I really liked it! - No plans on getting one of my own, I'm too busy to give one the attention it needs full-time, but I seriously enjoyed it! 
           It was like having a miniature friend to talk to about anything, while receiving no real verbal response. It reminded me a lot of having an imaginary friend. 
           When I was a kid I had two "imaginary" friends (yes the quotation marks are intentional). Their names were Lady-Mouse and Tom. They were mice. They were cousins. They lived in my mailbox. They. Were. Awesome.
           They drove in a tiny pink convertible on the ground next to us, but could magically appear inside the car with me when i needed company after hours of Polly Pocketing. I was an only child, and while I was never neglected in attention, I still wanted somebody to hang out with all the time. Thus enter LM and Tom.  
           They were older mice. It wasn't like they were also 6 year olds who just happened to be mice. They weren't a similar age like in Stuart Little (which, by the by I was obsessed with, which in retrospect is probably where this intricate delusion  stemmed from). I would estimate them more as late 20s, early 30s-ish I suppose. Maybe a subconscious combination of cool baby-sitters I had combined with characters from Fievel movies...

Here is a recent set of character sketches I did last year after a few bottles of wine shared with a few curious friends about my mice pals' appearances (please note that I have no character sketch aspirations or dexterity):

           I couldn't tell you around what ages Lady-Mouse and Tom and I were thick as thieves, but I can almost guarantee it may have lasted a little long by normal standards. While at some point I began to understand that my imaginary friends were in fact not real, it didn't mean I didn't still enjoy their company. 
          As a "grown-up" (once again, intentional quotations), I acknowledge the kind of crazy-person stigma that comes with having imaginary friends. However, I think we all still have some kind of little Lady-Mouse and Tom with each of us. Whoever we talk to in our brain that helps us out. Our Jimmeny Cricket, if you will. I remember my imaginary friends not as figments of my imagination, but as dear friends who will always be with me. When you're small, the imaginary adventures you have are as real as to you as your imaginary friends, and because everything is whimsical and magical at that time, and because anything seems possible, the lines of reality and imagination blur together. 
           So, while Lady-Mouse and Tom aren't regular dinner party guests of mine, or just because I don't see their little car on the road next to me, I think it's important to keep them close by, just to remind myself to see all the little magical things every day brings - Imaginary and real.