Imagination wanted

Does anyone use their imaginations anymore? When I was a kid, I used my imagination all the time. My twin and I would pretend to be radio disc jockeys and we'd sing our made up hits and then announce our next hit. We even had commercials. "And now a word from our sponsors."

Sometimes, I imagined the ground was on fire with only a small tight rope to walk across to safety. (Water hose for tight rope.) If one of us fell off the tight rope, sad to say, we perished.

Other times, we pretended to be one of the Brady Bunch kids. There was always an issue of the day like Nay Nay (Jan) losing her diary key and Me (Cindy) finding it and reading Jan's diary. As always a mom or dad didn't spank Cindy's butt but felt her forehead and determined that Cindy (me) wasn't being bad, I was just running a slight fever. Off to bed I went where we then went into doctor and patient imagination.

We would get so caught up in our imagination that I swear, sometimes, we never even played with our toys at all. Everything that we had, was handmade and at our disposal. A tennis racket was a guitar. A brush was a microphone.

Do imaginations disappear when you get older? If so, I want mine back. I want to "pretend" that I'm eating lobster when actually, there's a grilled cheese sandwich on my plate. I want to pretend to travel across the country and really feel like I have. I want to imagine that I've won the lottery and I can do anything I want with the money I have.

That's the beauty of being kids. There's no holding back on what you can imagine.

What did you imagine when you were a kid? Do you use your imagination now?

Comments

Elle Bee said…
My cousin and I used to sing with microphones (brushes) on a stage (the deck in the backyard) and do dances. Sometimes we'd mix up a batch of outdoor soup (water, flour, butter and grass) and dare each other to try it. And then we'd cut up pickles and say they were frog legs--what a delicacy! HA! I had fun reading what you two did.
Elle
August 12, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Grami's girls said…
My grandaughter is 4 and sometimes I play make believe and she thinks it is the funniest thing. We pretend we are eating chocolates off a platter or anything silly. It's so much fun!
August 12, 2009 at 4:04 PM
Liz Mays said…
I imagined all day long every single day. It's so different now and a big pet peeve of mine.
August 12, 2009 at 4:42 PM
Teresa @ Grammy Girlfriend said…
My grandsons use theirs daily....and its a hoot...
August 12, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Lin said…
I wish I still had the imagination that I had as a kid. I remember playing so much and pretending--it was wonderful. Why do we lose that?? Especially when we could use that as a relief to our crazy lives. No wonder people do drugs and drink--their imaginations are all used up. :(
August 12, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Unknown said…
I somehow lost the imagination when I got married..lol..I do agree with you on winning the lottery:) fun post!
August 12, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Heart2Heart said…
I used my imagination a lot more when I was a child than now, but I am glad to see that my children are still using theirs.

Now I just take virtual vacation or watch movies in my head while reading some great books!

Love and Hugs ~ Kat
August 12, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Veronica Lee said…
I still use my mop as a microphone!!
August 12, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Ina in Alaska said…
I used to put a bath towel on my head and pretend I had long hair, then swing my towel/hair like that shampoo commercial lady.

Now I imagine what kind of lives the people live in the houses along our dog walks. Why did they choose the cars in their driveways, what they might make for dinner, are they going to remodel something, etc. Makes the walks fun....
August 12, 2009 at 11:03 PM
Rebecca Jo said…
Kids have so much technology - they dont NEED to use imaginations anymore...

I would sit my baby dolls around the room & I'd imagine I was a teacher giving lessons to them... fun times!
August 13, 2009 at 5:30 AM
Deidra said…
My sister and I would gather the neighborhood kids each year and we'd put on a production in my basement. That was fun! And in the summer, we'd draw "cities" on our street with chalk. Each person would have their own home and there was a grocery store, a gas station, a school - but I don't think we had a bank. We would drive matchbox cars all around the town, all day long. I think I still use my imagination quite a bit, creatively living in my means and making up fun things to do on a budget.
August 13, 2009 at 6:36 AM
Debz said…
Oh the imaginations my brother and I had.
We shared a room for a good bulk of my childhood and had bunk beds. I remember doing silly things like one of us swinging our arm off the top bunk (so it was dangling down like a pendulum)and pretending to hypnotize the other (on the bottom) and then of course, make them cluck like a chicken and all sorts of other crazy things.
Nothing is cooler to listen to then when my bff's kids are playing (at my house) and I hear one of them say: "Pretend that I'm _______" Fill in the blank. Except when they say, "Pretend I have an oozi and I just shot up the bank and your the cops coming to get me."
This must be todays JACKED UP version of our cops and robbers (lol).
August 13, 2009 at 7:52 AM
Anonymous said…
Ah the things we did as a kid. We didn't have money for toys, video games or even tv when we were growing up, so all we had were our imaginations.

Now when I want something sweet and can't eat it because of a restricting myself, I pretend my grilled chicken is a big slice of chocolate cake. It doesnt' work out so well though.
August 13, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Joanna Jenkins said…
Back in the day, I imagined what it would be like to be on American Bandstand and what I'd say if I was picked to rate a record (Nice beat, easy to dance to.)

I'd like to think I still use my imagination a lot, but the truth is, probably not so much. Times just flies by to fast.
August 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM
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