Imaginary friend

I am quite shocked that I never had an imaginary friend as a child. With two older brothers and many neighborhood kids to keep me busy, I never felt like I needed someone else to talk to. I had a mother who stayed at home with us until we were in school, she even taught me kindergarten (which I am still a little bitter about since I didn't get a real kindergarten graduation). I remember while my brothers played baseball, soccer and pretty much every other sport and I was dragged along, I would go find a quiet place and play by myself. This was one of the very few moments when I was alone. From about age 3 to 7 I was obsessed with the mud. So I used these alone times to find the one or more places with mud. I am sure I was a sight for my parents eyes when they would come looking for me and find me in my cute little girl clothes covered in mud.

I miss those simple days. The kind of days that the most important thing to do is get dirty and not having to worry about how to get clean. I find myself at least once a day wishing I was a kid again. I was a weird ass kid, but I enjoyed it until I got to the point where all I wanted to do was grow up. How do you possibly convince a child that they should not rush adulthood? The one thing I hold tight to as an adult is my child-like imagination. When I decided I didn't want to be seen as a kid anymore, I think my imagination intensified. It was like I knew I would need something to keep me attached to my kid self. I still have such a vivid imagination that takes hold of me especially in the last few moments before I go to sleep. I miss being a kid, I miss the mud, but thank goodness I still have my imagination.

P.S. I will have to find a picture of me when I was little and playing in the mud.