make-believe

I used to believe…

my name is gilbert im 9 years old i have an imaginary friend named looloo its a strange type of bird and the only wordd she knows is loo loo right looloo looloo says hi and i make alots more if i can

I used to believe…

When my five year old neice was going through the gibberish stage in her language development, a certain phrase, "Ponzi Wonzie," kept recurring. It didn't take long for her to develop the words that she needed to communicate, but Ponzi remained.

By the time she was two she was drawing pictures of Ponzi on the wall; a circle with a face inside it and lines radiating from it. "Ponzi is a boy, but he's a spider today."

After a while we didn't hear from Ponzi any more. Then one day last year we saw a commercial for a new cartoon on the Cartoon Network called "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends." After seeing that, Marie announced that that is where Ponzi was staying.

Since then Ponzi has been back in our lives full force. Usually he is a boy, but sometimes he is a grown up or even a spider. He has a whole changing ensemble of family and friends, and even his back story changes frequently. (She told me recently that Ponzi was Jewish and that he lived in Africa.) But Ponzi is consistently with us.

Sometimes Ponzi does things that Marie wishes she could do, like drive a car, and sometimes he does things that she does, like take swim lessons. He also does things that get Marie into trouble like making messes.

Occasionally the wind will blow open the front door and she will run to it shouting, "Ponzi! Shut the door when you come in! You'll let the dogs out!" Or if the dogs bark at nothing, she tells Ponzi to quit teasing them.

To me the most fascinating thing about Ponzi is that Marie sometimes uses him as an ice breaker. Whenever she meets some one new, particularly new adults (teachers, etc.) she opens with a Ponzi story. And when they ask who Ponzi is, she says, "Well, he's my imaginary friend."

Now when I run into people who have met Marie and Ponzi, they ask about both of them. In fact, some teenagers who work with my mother are even blaming Ponzi when they get into trouble now.

I used to believe that monsters could not attack if you were singing. They like American patriotic songs and christmas songs the best. The best songs to sing are America the Beautiful, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, This Land is Your Land, and Silent Night.

I used to believe…

in preschool and kindergarden i used to hav 2 imaginary friends. one was snoopy.enough said. the other was Uey a 10 year old boy. i was a tomboy and convinced that he forced me to wear dresses.

years later at an acting day camp in 2nd grade an older man came and i was convinced he was my Uncle Uey

yes I was a disturbed child.

I used to believe…

When I went to sleep at night, lying with my ear to the pillow, I would hear my heartbeat. Only i was convinced it was ghosts who were walking in a corridor in my ear, and if i didn't change side frequently, they would come out of my ear and kill me.

I used to believe…

When I was little, my dad used to tell me stories to scare me, and he told me one about a man who kidnapped children in order to build his castle of bones. So I convinced myself that he was made of chocolate, don't know how, just did. Then one night, my dad crept outside and walked to my window, where I would sit to draw, or just think, and he opened the window and grabbed my shoulder. At that point, I grabbed his hand and promptly bit down as hard as I could.

I used to have an imaginary friend named Tall Zebra. I would always say that if someone got me mad that TZ would step on them. And I vaguely remember a male imaginary friend who looked about 20....He was TZ's caretaker and his other bestfriend.

I used to believe…

From age 6-12 I had an imaginary friend who when I was in the car would run along side it, or on the sidewalk if one was available... He would jump over fire hydrants, lamp posts, other cars, ect. I never gave him a name and never saw him any other time then when I was in the backseat (passanger side) of the car.

I used to believe…

When I was little I found a price tag from a store I knew on a present that Santa had left for me,since I knew that elves made all the toys I went to my mother and asked her why.She told me that sometimes Santa goes to the store to get the gifts the elves can't make,this sounded logical to a small child so whenever I saw an older man with a beard or a little person in a store I would think it was Santa or an elf getting all the gifts they couldn't make . I would walk up to them and give them a knowing look, usually they smiled and just thought I was an odd kid but I thought they were giving me a secret look like they knew I knew who they were.....

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to believe that if i went head first into bed, with my feet by the pillow and my head under the sheets at the foot of the bed, that it would keep expanding and would become a magical passageway to Disney World.

I used to believe…

When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade a friend told me I was magic and in order to find my magic wand I had to go to my closet and find a door and go in and I would be in a magic forest and find my magic wand there. I actually believed her and spent a long time looking for that door. LOL

I used to believe that the ringing in my ears was an alien from Mars trying to contact me. I would put my hands over my ears to ascertain it was really 'them' and not an outside noise, and then I'd say something like "Earth to Mars, I hear you...hello?"

I used to believe…

My imaginary friend's name was Nanda. He was a mouse. He lived in these tiny glass houses my mother collects. I don't remember his mother and sister's names, I know they were complicated, but I know his dad was Michael Johnson.

I used to believe…

When I was 3 or 4 Santa came to my best friend.s house on Xmas Eve. She live right behind us. My dad told me (when I asked about why she got her presents on the 24th and I had to wait till morning) He said that Santa started his "run" at her house and then went all the way around the world and ended up at our house,Christmas morning. It made sense to me!!

I used to believe…

my friend tried to scared me with the bloody mary story when i was young. he told me that it's true because his bother was almost killed by blood mary. his brother had purple spots on his neck to prove it. now i realise those were hickies. therefore, his girlfiend must be bloody mary. i am just kidding. =)

I have had a whole lot of imaginary friends, however, they keep disappearing. I just realized for every house I lived in (my family has moved a lot) I had a seperate imaginary friend. Right before I find out we move, my imaginary friend kind of just 'fades away'. I have had many different friends for the house we are in now, none of which have kept alive.

I used to believe…

When my little brother was 6 years old, I told him that those little dust particles floating around in the light of the window were actually little monster alien things that lived on the sun, called Megamimas. They transported to Earth by travelling on rays of sunlight. I told him that they bite, and the bites were extremely painful for their tiny size. My grandfather is missing a finger on one of his hands (it got shot off when he was in the Navy), and I told my brother that a Megamima bit his finger off.

He avoided windows during the daytime for a long time.

I always thought that if you were in a room with a mirror and it was just light enough to see yourself in the mirror, but still really dark, and said 'Bloody Mary' 47 times, she would appear and come out of the mirror and break the mirror and then disappear again. And if you did that but fainted when you saw Bloody Mary, when you woke up you would have this ginormous cut on your wrist. I tried this with my firneds, however, and nothing happened.