A Note on Imaginary Homicide
I again want to share a story about my little niece, Katie (not her real name).
My sister and her husband live near Washington, D.C. and were moderately involved in the events of 9/11 as my brother-in-law is a lawyer and represented some victims' families following the events. This being said, one evening little Katie, who was probably only three at the time, woke up in the middle of the night screaming to high heaven. She was frantic and refused to calm down despite the efforts of both my sister and her husband. My sister was sure that the eruption had something to do with 9/11 and wondered how she might reassure her that all was going to be allright
Eventually they managed to ease her concerns and she calmed down enough to give them the following story.
"Mom, you know Tina, right?" Katie sobbed.
My sister did remember that Tina was Katie's imaginary best friend. She was African and, despite the fact she was imaginary, she managed to make Katie's real friends quite jealous.
"Yes, honey." replied my sister not knowing quite where this was going.
"She came to play and told me that I wasn't real. I'm just imaginary." Again she sobbed uncontrollably. My sister and her husband both laughed, but their laughter just worsened the situation. Imagine the consternation she faced knowing her imaginary friend said she, Katie, was imaginary. After many hours of parental therapy, Katie fell back to sleep.
Several months later, they asked Katie what had happened to Tina. They hadn't heard about her in quite a while.
She replied that Tina had moved to Arizona to live on a reservation, but she got bit by a snake and died. They asked if she was going to the funeral. "Nope. Tina's mom isn't having one."
My sister and her husband live near Washington, D.C. and were moderately involved in the events of 9/11 as my brother-in-law is a lawyer and represented some victims' families following the events. This being said, one evening little Katie, who was probably only three at the time, woke up in the middle of the night screaming to high heaven. She was frantic and refused to calm down despite the efforts of both my sister and her husband. My sister was sure that the eruption had something to do with 9/11 and wondered how she might reassure her that all was going to be allright
Eventually they managed to ease her concerns and she calmed down enough to give them the following story.
"Mom, you know Tina, right?" Katie sobbed.
My sister did remember that Tina was Katie's imaginary best friend. She was African and, despite the fact she was imaginary, she managed to make Katie's real friends quite jealous.
"Yes, honey." replied my sister not knowing quite where this was going.
"She came to play and told me that I wasn't real. I'm just imaginary." Again she sobbed uncontrollably. My sister and her husband both laughed, but their laughter just worsened the situation. Imagine the consternation she faced knowing her imaginary friend said she, Katie, was imaginary. After many hours of parental therapy, Katie fell back to sleep.
Several months later, they asked Katie what had happened to Tina. They hadn't heard about her in quite a while.
She replied that Tina had moved to Arizona to live on a reservation, but she got bit by a snake and died. They asked if she was going to the funeral. "Nope. Tina's mom isn't having one."
posted by Cool Dad at Tuesday, May 24, 2005
7 Comments:
When my daughter was little, her imaginary friend was Lisa.
My daughter insisted that we pray for Lisa each night during family devotions because, “Lisa made a D in arithmetic” or “Lisa is going to Africa as a missionary” or “Lisa is going to have a baby”.
Once Lisa was called up for jury duty!
So we spent a lot of time praying for “Lisa”.
At the time I thought it was dumb to pray over imaginary problems, but later I began to wonder if maybe a lot of the adult worries I pray about are just as imaginary as Lisa???
I hope so.
Well said, John.
I dare say you are right on with that comment.
That's pretty funny, and I'd probably LMBO off if Kid ever told me that that her imaginary friend told her that she (Kid) was imaginary.
Kid has two real dogs, and about a gabillion imaginary dogs. Sometimes they jump in the car, and I don't even realize that they are there until we get to where we are going. Sometimes they bring their puppies along too.
My sister is a year younger than me. She was my best friend. I tried to imagine her away all the time. Does that count?
We learned about the imaginary friend thing from TV, I think. I'm not sure. One of my little brothers (probably about 6 or 7 at the time) thought it was a cool idea so he conjured up one. He wasn't ever *real* to anyone, and we almost never heard about him. But now, my brother is going to be 15 and in the autobiographical comic strip he draws, Sam his imaginary best friend is one of the main characters. He's white and we're Chinese. I love these interracial friendships.
World peace!
In my opinion you are never too old to have an imaginary friend...it is good to have someone else to blame for life's little mess-ups. Of course my imaginary friend keeps blaming me.
Loved this post and getting to know a little bit about "Katie" and Tina.
Now, I must blogroll you! That will not be imaginary.
WOW! What an active imagination. I have the same issues with my daughter - who's 3. Who insists that she will be a mermaid and that mermaids are real. Who swears she is growing fins. Thankfully she hasn't tried "breathing underwater" yet.
She's part fish already with my husband's genes. He and his siblings went to state for swimming back when.
sorry i posted on the wrong comment. i remeber waking up screaming rapidly until they calmed me down. when i was eight tina actually came back to life!!! she ded, again but this time it was because she moved to Alaska and she died of coldness
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