The Reality of Imagination

 Have you ever walked through a crowded store, searching between the shelves and aisles, while calling out the name of your child's imaginary friend?  If you have, you might realize in hindsight that your concerned fellow shoppers were not overreacting when they joined you in the search. Especially when you picture the worried look on your toddler's face, with her eyes stretched as wide as they go, and her mouth slightly open as she holds her breath until you find her missing best friend, Zane.  Also in hindsight, you might understand the strange looks you get when you whisper to the over-reacting shoppers, when they offer to shut the store down until Zane is found, "Don't worry, Zane isn't real."

At one point, I thought I found Zane, hiding between the avocado display and the apples.  But I was wrong.  "That's not Zane," my toddler told me, still half holding her breath.  Eventually, she found Zane, in the toy aisle.  They hugged each other for a full minute, and it almost brought a tear to my eye.  "Zane really wanted to look at the toys, but I told him he has to wait for me next time because he could get lost," she told me as we left the store.

A close friend asked me why I play along with this imaginary game.  When she heard me call out to my daughter that lunch is ready, and to please tell Zane it's time to come in and eat, my friend laughed and said she is not sure she would humor her child to this extent.  She was concerned that I was encouraging a blurring between reality and imagination, and that perhaps my child will not learn to tell the difference.  Honestly, I didn't have time to contemplate her opinion, because Zane wasn't feeling well, and instead of the pizza I gave him for lunch, he needed toast and tea.  And from the concerned look on my toddler's face, I knew that Zane was more real than my friend could ever imagine.