11:54 p.m. | 2004-12-16 Can You Imagine A Friend? Imaginary friends became a topic at work today. I do believe that I started that whole thing, but I can�t recall exactly how I ushered in such a conversation. But hey, I talk a lot. Here�s what happened: (CI:) I had an imaginary friend (IF). Kind of. My IF was very fluid, I guess. No name, no general description� just there. I guess. What about you, UA? (UA:) (Checking stats and whatnot.) Kind of. Hey, it says here that 80% of kids have imaginary friends. (NewIntern:) That seems like a high percentage. (CI:) Well, I know that 3 out of 4 of us had at least one. I don�t know about one sister. However, the rest of us had at least one. And, actually, one of my sisters had a crowd of them. A whole brood. (NI:) I had a college roommate that told us all about his sister�s imaginary friend that she had as a child. When she found out, she got mad enough to tell us that my roommate had also had one. (Imaginary friend names where then disclosed. There are some pretty funny names out there.) (UA:) It says that Ifs are defined by a name, description and location. Oh, and I was wrong about the percentage. It�s actually about 67% of kids. (CI:) Okay. At least two of my sisters had bonafide Ifs. Names, locations and whatnot. In one case, a certain sister really had a crowd. Or seven. They all had names, lived in certain places. Were often at our house. I know because I sat on them a lot. Or knocked them over or ran into them. (UA:) Really? (CI:) Yeah. She�d say: No don�t! Don�t sit on so-and-so! (UA:) Oh my gosh. (CI:) Hey, NB. Did you ever have an imaginary friend? (NB:) What? (I repeated the question.) I�m sure I did but I don�t remember because I was young. (CI:) Did your sisters? (NB:) I wouldn�t know. They would�ve been imaginary, obviously, so how would I know? (CI:) What about you Fargo? Did you ever have an imaginary friend? (Fargo:) Yes. You. (CI:) Nice. (UA:) Good one, Fargo. Honestly, that really made me laugh. Hard. It was even funnier when I started �bad-mouthing� him and he complained that his IF just �trash-talks� him. However, the debate is still open. Did any of you guys have imaginary friends? Or do your kids have them? I�m very intrigued by this whole discussion. It seemed to be a common thing in my family. What about yours? And, I will say that the sister that had a bevy of Ifs? Yeah, there was even a pecking order amongst hers. Her IF topdog? Let me just say that �she� "lived" in the mansion down the street. The other sisters (myself included)? Not so lucky. Mine was homeless and hers lived in the woods. It doesn�t seem like there�s a distinction there, but there was. The woods were more prestigious. If you will. What about you? your thoughts? seed flower