My Imaginary Friend

Not every child has them.  Some studies show that those children that do turn out to be very creative and end up in careers where creativity is a requirement. 

I had one.  I am pretty sure that having one did nothing of the sort for my career path, but I suppose if someone had the time and wanted to pay me enough I would let them study me and figure it out.

My imaginary friends name was Jaime.  Yes, I am spelling that correctly.  She was The Bionic Woman.  If you missed that incredible series which was a spin-off of The Six Million Dollar Man between 76’ and 78’, I am sorry for you.  It was light years ahead of its time as far as TV series were concerned.  But yes, Jaime was my imaginary friend. 

I was between the ages of 4 and 6.  A tumultuous time for sure, having been drug around in a pillow case for most of my life, and stuck in cupboards to play hide and seek.  I needed something, someone to save me.  Jarod was of no help, he was barely talking.

I was crazy about Lee Majors, I have no idea why, but I was even crazier when Jaime appeared on the big screen, this comes as no shock to me now.

She went everywhere with me.  She was there the day I first started kindergarten (yes I remember pieces of it) with my big fat crayons.  Now, my teacher would not let her have a chair next to me, like my Grandma Rosie did whenever we were at her house.  Nope, Jaime had to wait over on the bench where we hung our coats because there simply weren’t enough chairs.  Whatever, I know exactly what was being done and I didn’t like it one bit.

She rode with me in the back of our faux wood paneled “Griswald family truckster “ on vacations to Minnesota…and always, always beat me at those games that came with the magic pens that revealed the correct answer to trivia, math and spelling questions.  I don’t know where those came from or whatever happened to them, but I loved those stupid things.  I probably always let her win, but that’s what friends are for.

She was there the day I fell off of my Dad’s combine handing him Windex, thinking I was pretty much dead.  Obviously I wasn’t, but to this day I think she saved me from breaking my neck, after all she was The Bionic Woman.  She didn’t make fun of me when mom FORCED me to go to school that next day wearing a green Granimal outfit with a turtle on it.  I was so angry that day; I don’t think I participated in anything.  I thought for sure falling out of a combine earned you a day off from school. 

My favorite part about being with her was when we went to Grandma Rosie’s in London Mills.  She and Grandpa owned a grocery store (The C&R Market) and Grandpa ALWAYS let me get extra candy for her and Grandma always set up a place for her at the dinner table.  Jaime’s favorite thing in the world was when my Grandma made Peanut Butter Blossoms at Christmas time…we were tall enough to stand exactly at table height and if you looked at them just right, they looked like mountains. 

She always rode with me in my little red corvette pedaling up and down Grams sidewalk pretending to go on our mini-adventures, most of which I can no longer remember. 

She was my first best friend.  My first real friend, at least in my mind.  We never fought like I did with my sister, and she never cried like my brother did, she just did a lot of amazing things with her arms and her lightning speed. 

I am positive that she would be proud of who I have become.  I don’t know when we parted ways, or what prompted her to suddenly disappear from my imagination, but she didn’t leave until she knew I was ready for her to do so.  I am sure I was teased, if so I don’t remember so it must not have meant much to me if I was.  What I do remember is her presence in my life.  She was always there.

It is not very often that I think of her, but when I do I smile.  Because she is the only one who didn’t think sitting under Gram and Gramps tree and pretending those things falling down were helicopters, was stupid.  And I honest to God can remember thinking and saying out loud to her one day, “they have no idea how cool this is.”