Imagination

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."  ~Albert Einstein I loved Barbie Dolls when I was growing up.  I especially loved my sister's Barbie dolls because they were always in better condition than mine.  She always took better care of her toys than I did, and when she wasn't around, I would play with them!  :)  I was really diligent about being careful so she wouldn't find out, she is older than me, and at the time I was smaller than her!

I always wished that my dolls were actually real.  I would imagine that they had these intricate lives.  I would try to catch them coming alive when I wasn't looking.  I never caught them directly which doesn't mean that they didn't come alive, it just means that I never caught them.  I would tie a rope around my Barbie's and throw them out the window to pretend like they were mountain climbers or trying to escape.  There were a lot of various scenarios, all of them very realistic.  I spent a lot of time having them do things that were decidedly athletic.  Basically a prelude to my present life.

One day I was ironing.  I am sure it was something cotton which meant that I had the setting on high and with steam.  I, of course, had one of my dolls helping me out.  She was near enough to the iron that the steam hit her face.  I didn't realize how close she was until I checked in with her (believe me, they were alive) and saw that the steam created beads of water on her face that made it look like she was sweating!  Yes!!!  Sweat… how much more human can you get?  So I stopped ironing and commenced to create a scene where she was running and very out of breath, then (after putting her close to the steam from the iron) she would have to wipe her face off.  It was a blast.  I don't remember how long she ran, but I do know that she was rather sweaty.

After enough time (in my mind) I shut the scene down, finished my ironing and took my doll to her next adventure, which was, if I recall correctly, to do her hair.  Well, if you never played with dolls I will explain what the hair is made of.  Plastic.  If you don't know what plastic does near heat, I will tell you.  It melts.  And melt it did.  Her hair was stuck together like bad Phad Thai noodles.  It sucked.  I remember feeling frustrated after the surprise wore off.  That went away pretty quick as a solution rose up in me.  CUT. IT. OFF.  So I did.  She became my bald-ish doll who liked to work out.  I kept her an played with her and invariably came up with all of these scenarios where she had lost her hair or just liked it short.  She wasn't neglected that is for sure.  I rolled with it.  Being open was/is the key.

Imaginations are precious and they are what makes your reality real.  Have you had an opportunity to foster your imagination and decided that it wasn't a worth pursuit?  Maybe you could use time alone, no phone, no computer, no TV where you just play.  You create ideas, you imagine situations, you play.  You have all you need to enjoy your life right where you are.  It is all in your head, literally.  The next time you have the chance to create something magical or fantastical, DO IT.  Enjoy how that opens you up to so many other things you didn't realize you were closed to.  Just be careful of plastic and heat… they don't mix.

"Imagination is the eye of the soul."  ~Joseph Joubert

xo

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