I know I’ve told some imaginary friend
stories over the years. They usually
center around that odd little imp who called himself Boy. He first showed up when Kel was a
youngster. I suppose his task was to
introduce the young innocent to all the finer points of misbehavior and
mayhem. Boy certainly received the blame
for anything bad that happened around our house for several years. He finally departed into the black hole of
imaginatory nothingness that is the source of such companionship for children,
and we figured we would never hear from him again. But several years later the rascal was back,
introducing himself to Josh and doing his best to lead this new youngster into
all sorts of mischief. Understand here …
we never mentioned him to young Josh by name.
Never even mentioned the imaginary friend concept. But when he arrived it was unmistakably
Boy. Once again he stayed with us for
several years before quietly taking his leave.
As Nathan approached the “Boy years” we couldn’t decide whether to
eagerly anticipate his return or do whatever we could to discourage it. As it turned out, when Boy arrived into
Nathan’s life he discovered that he had nothing to do. Nathan was light years ahead of him already
in the impishness department. In fact I
think Boy might have been more than a little bit intimidated by Nathan.
Now all that to say, we have a new
imaginary friend in the family. As far
as I can tell, this one is not much like Boy at all. In the first place he showed up much earlier
than his predecessor. And secondly, he
has attached himself to a girl. No, this
one is not guiding Cailyn into the paths of naughtiness. Remember who her Daddy is. This new guy is a friend of two-year-old
Noa. I guess the IFB (Imaginary Friend Bureau)
has lowered its limits of attack. Noa
introduced us to this creature the last time she and her brothers were over
here without parents. Gojin is this one’s
name. Not sure about the
origin/etymology of that one, but it does have a genie kind of flavor to it. So Gojin was quite an active little
critter. He enjoyed hanging around light
fixtures and sometimes up on the roof.
That much we got from the BLT (Brothers’ Living Translation). But she did have some things of her own to
say. Here’s a rundown, best I can
remember.
Noa: “Gojin on light.” Followed by a pause. We weren’t sure if something was happening
right then or she was remembering an earlier event.
Noa: “Gojin fell down from light an’ got a
owie.”
Well, now that couldn’t have been fun. But apparently we needed a fuller
explanation. Looking back up at the
chandelier above our dining room table, she continued.
Noa: “Gojin swing swing and he up up and
fell down and got an owie.”
Introductions made, she went back to the
task at hand … lunch. And after a nibble
or two on a piece of cheese …
Noa: “Gojin gonna eat eat.”
Well, of course he is. Everybody has to eat eat. I couldn’t resist this time, though.
DadDad: “What’s he gonna eat?”
Come on, I never did get any details about
Boy when he was here. He was always in
hiding. This was just parental curiosity,
you understand. She had an immediate
answer for me, though.
Noa: “Gojin gonna eat Heidi.”
And there it was. Heidi is our dog. That’s right.
Dog. Old Gojin was not that
different from Boy after all. I kept my
eye on our poor old dachshund after that.
I’m not sure she could handle a mealtime attack by a hungry Gojin.
Proverbs
17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a
brother is born for adversity.”
Father, thank you for imaginary
friends and tired old dogs. Thank you
more for being a real friend and an eternal companion. Amen.
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