I is for Imagination

When I was a little girl I had one. Somehow through the years though, it disappeared.

I remember wanting to be Dale Evans. (For those of you who have no clue who she was, she was a famous singing cowgirl. Her husband was Roy Rogers and he was quite famous)

Dale Evans wore cowgirl skirts. They had fringe all across the bottom that swished when she walked. Little girls like fringe. Little girls like skirts that swish. I did not own a swishy skirt, nor did my sister. One day when our mother was not using all of the clothespins we decided to borrow them. It was soon discovered that if you place clothespins around the entire perimeter of a skirt it becomes a swishy skirt. It looked like fringe to us and for just a moment we lived the dream of being Dale Evans.

How imaginative was that?

One time I wanted to be a witch. Okay, I must have watched The Wizard of Oz, but being a witch on her broom was all I had on my mind. I walked outside near the barn and found a long lead pipe. Closest thing I could find to a proper witch’s broom. I placed it between my legs, held on as if it were my broom, and started down the path outside.

Lead pipes are heavy.

Lead pipes do not fly, they drop.

To this day I have a scar on my left thumb where the lead pipe landed on it and busted it open.

My sister and I would draw girls on paper, and then we would have them talk to each other. I know that just sounds sad, but it entertained us for hours. It is amazing what being poor can do for one’s imagination.

As I said though, somewhere along the line I lost my imagination.

Ahhh, but not to worry, as it left me, it entered my children. Our boys would come up with the best activities. I remember when they commandeered the vacuum hose and dressed as firemen, setting up chairs for their fire truck, complete with a stuffed animal as their fire-house dog. They took pretend trips to Mee-Mart (K-Mart) or pretended to be the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bakers. Often they dressed in character pajamas so they could save the world as Batman and Superman. I always felt safe when they were protecting me.

My greatest memories of their childhoods are of the times when they were pretending. What a joy it was to see what their minds would come up with.

Those moments fade so fast, and as adults we seldom pretend. We are too busy with life sometimes to have fun with it.

I may surprise you though, and if I show up someday wearing clothespins all across the bottom of my dress, please don’t think I have “ lost it”.

Please understand that I have found it.