Who's Lily?

[lathany]

Lily is five and she's going to have her fifth birthday soon. She lives in Cambridge, but she's often standing right behind me. She's got a baby; although this could just mean a baby doll. She's also coming for tea most days - but never arrives. She's Beatrice's best friend and... yes... she's imaginary.

I'm not an expert on imaginary friends, but isn't three a bit young to start?

Comments

Well...

[applez.livejournal.com]

If you have any worries on the Ring-style front, you can always do a preventative 'smudging' with some good smoky herbs.

[frax.livejournal.com]

I bet Lily always gets given a piece of the cake you are eating as well.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

No. She still relies on Ryan not eating all of his!

[huggyrei.livejournal.com]

Nah - I had several imaginary friends by that age (they were very small and slept with me in my bed; I remember one was called Ido) - and I am, of course, perfectly normal and well-balanced.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Out of interest - do you remember that age, or did your parents tell you it was then?

And how many years did they last for?

[huggyrei.livejournal.com]

I remember the inaginary friends; I don't remember the age, no. I'm not sure how many years they lasted. I also remember insisting to everyone that I used to be 16 and then went back down to 2 again, so I was certainly fantasising and citing it as truth by age 2.

[inskauldrak.livejournal.com]

Well... how 'old' is it to start either?

Having never properly thought about it before, I'd have thought 3-4 would be the 'healthy' time for it to happen if it happens.

I don't have memories of 'imaginary friends' as such, but I can remember (vaguely) being able to play in an imaginary world with other characters even though I knew it was our kitchen and that grown ups might see (and I mean when I was about four rather than twenty-four).

But then I'm not anywhere near an expert, though I do know that I'm (hopefully) a fairly sane person but will still make sure Mousey* isn't crushed or thrown to one side.

Would be nice to meet Ryan and Beatrice properly as well... I promise not to talk politics and read them Asterix!

*Mousey = very old mouse teddy that I've had since before I can remember.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Well... how 'old' is it to start either?

I don't know. I'm asking because when they come up in fiction it tends to be around far older children and I wondered if anyone knew more about it in real life.

Would be nice to meet Ryan and Beatrice properly as well

You should!

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

If I could just be arsed to dig through my psychology notes, I should be able to tell you. Even if she is early, this wouldn't be a bad sign - t'would indicate high intelligence.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

t'would indicate high intelligence.

That's a relief. Must be the first thing she's developed that doesn't require a small army of doctors.

[adamsmithjr.livejournal.com]

Could be worse. Could be Charlie Ravioli, Olivia Gopnik's imaginary friend. Charlie Ravioli is always too busy to see her.

"...She held the phone up to her ear and said, “Ravioli, Ravioli, are you there? It’s Olivia. Can you come and play? Well, call me.” Then she snapped the cell phone shut, shook her head, and said to me, “I always get Charlie’s answering machine.”

One day I heard Olivia speaking on the toy cell phone to a new person named Laurie. It turned out that Laurie was the imaginary assistant to Charlie Ravioli. She was answering his telephone and told Olivia that, unfortunately, Mr. Ravioli was in a meeting and would be unable to play that day..."

I cannot find the original New Yorker article by Adam Gopnik - alas.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Poor Olivia. Lily always picks up her phone. In fact, Bea can call her any time of day and she picks up so fast it's almost as though she was just sitting there waiting for Bea to call. That said, they never talk for very long, so I suppose Lily must be quite busy too.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

<laughs>