Imaginary Friends

My dad has often talked about how much he LOVED his bed when he was a little kid and how he would pretend the foot of the bed was his bunker and he'd have pretend battles like Davy Crockett. It was a metal frame bed with a rounded end, so that he could peek between the slats and lay his enemy to waste. When he was a very little boy he created an imaginary friend named Millie. Millie was a boy and he was completely convinced Millie was real. They played together a lot and good 'ole Millie would always be the last to die in the battles he played. He was George Russell to his Davy. About a year after Millie came into his life another boy named Janice was invented when he was down in the basement one day. He just decided that Janice would be part of their group. Then Clauken came a little later as he was playing outside and realized he needed a third. These three boys, though imaginary, were his best pals and would join him when he played. But, as Davy Crockett, many of his boys were dying, so he eventually created another group of 3 friends. They weren't nearly as important as Millie, Janice, and Clauken, but were still part of his circle. They were Chicken, Micken, and Thicken. They came along when he was around 5 or 6. He played with all of them until he was 8 yrs old or so, but by that time had come to understand they weren't REALLY real. But, they were too much fun to push aside. This was all before they had a tv, so he didn't just sit and watch cartoons all day like the kids of today. He used his imagination and had a lot of fun doing it, it seems. :-) Sometimes his brother Carl would join him and they'd push their beds together (they shared a room downstairs that later became my grandma's room) and fight and wrestle and have their battles. They used their toy guns and rifles to fight against their foes and, of course, Davy would always be the victor. No one really knows what happened to these loyal friends of his. They probably left dad once they realized that he had named them after girls and farm animals. But, they were his faithful comrads in arms for many years and filled my dad's days with fun. If I remember, I'll ask him whatever happened to that bed, that saw so many bloody sieges. Maybe it was donated to a war museum for its valiance in staying in one piece after the many, many battles inflicted on it by one creative little boy. But, that's the first glimpse into the life of my dad. And, now when you see him talking and there's no one in the room, you won't think he's crazy, you'll just think "hmmm..I wonder if Clauken has returned?".

The Beginning

1978 - roller skating rink in Winona Lake, IN

me and my dad

From as far back as I can remember, my dad would share stories of his life with me. He would sit on the edge of our beds and tell us stories before we'd go to sleep that night or tell us something funny around the dinner table. Heck, sometimes he'd even talk about them from the pulpit. Whether it was to teach me a lesson or just to make us laugh, they were always fun to listen to. It gives me a sense of what my history is and what my family was like. I've heard these stories many, MANY times, but still enjoy them and I find myself passing the stories down to my kids now. Stories about when I was a kid and the stories that he shared with me as well. Like "Papa once set his desk on fire in elementary school...... don't do that!" or something along those lines. ;-) A while back his sister, my Aunt Judi, started a blog of her own all about her life growing up as a young girl in a small town in NJ called "Runnemede Remembered" and I have SOOOO enjoyed reading about her and see how her life stories mirror my dad's. I asked him a while ago if he'd be willing to do a blog too. That way his grandkids and family can keep those stories alive, but he's not the most computer savvy guy. Plus, he's a busy guy, so he wouldn't be willing to say, give up watching a ball game to spend time on a blog, so he said that it would be cool if I did "interviews" with him and did the blog myself (since I enjoy it so much!). So, hopefully once a week or so, I will be able to come on here and tell you about our conversations. Share those stories that were always so fun for me to listen to and laugh at. And trust me, as ornery as he was, the stories are memorable!! :-)