Imagination vs. Electronics

There have been many discussions on imagination lately, asking if all the electronics kids have are decreasing the ability of our kids to play and develop their skills while imagining. I loved how we imagined as kids.

The first recollection I have of imagination play was with my older brother, Tom. He is my Irish twin, he is exactly eleven months and four days older than I am. He was born in June, 1951, while Dad was in Korea. While I was reading my dad’s equivalent to a DD-214 (Military discharge papers), I discovered he was separated from the Army in August of 1951. Brother Tom was three months old? Well, if you do the math, I was born sometime eight months later, plus a few days. That makes me chuckle.

Tom was my best friend for a long, long time. We played on Saturday mornings, using bed pillows to make imaginary boxes, complete with a top, and jump out of them when Mom came into our room. She always acted surprised. Mom’s are great at that, aren’t they?

We had the coolest linoleum in our room. The room had all wood floors, and we had an area piece of linoleum, and it had squares divided with different sayings, game boards, and even a checkerboard. It was much like an area rug. We spend hours playing in the room, using our imagination for a lot of games of pretend.

When we were a little older, I played with Peggy and Karen, neighbors. When we were older, we rode bikes together. Before that, we did what a lot of kids did, reenact TV shows. When my brother played Army with the neighbor kids, we played together, and I was the nurse. A young Hot Lips Houlihan, as it was (MASH had not come out yet. There were a lot of Army themed shows, though).

For Christmas, I received a nurses cloak, bag with doctor/nurse stuff, and some sort of hat. When I put that cape on, I was not me anymore. Those were some good times.

The other great times were playing with Peggy and Karen, we played “Bonanza.” I was madly in love with Little Joe, so I always called him my boyfriend. Those were such innocent times, really fun. Life had little concern for us then other than who would be our fictional boyfriend.

When I was probably sixth through eighth grades, a friend and I used to write plays that we pretended into live action. They revolved around our fictitious lives as the girlfriends of our favorite rock and roll stars. It was probably pretty juvenile, but we wrote them and practiced them just like scripts, complete with music, and it was even more fun. That friend sent me a photo a while back of this very sweatshirt. Karen Smolinski, I loved it! Thanks for thinking of me! I’ll be wearing it soon if it doesn’t warm up a lot!

My New Writing Hoodie!

So here is one of the items the Babe brought home from the store. He knows us so well! It’s a great day for ice cream by the fire later. What a guy. I’m so lucky.

Here we are at the end of another blogpost for today. Thank you for joining me, I hope you stop back again tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have more done on my character’s origin stories. Been way too busy again this week.

And, by the way! You can also connect with me on Facebook, Kathy Raabe, Author, On Instagram @authorkathyr, and on Instagram @Author_KRaabe. Please ask your friends to give us some likes and follows. Thanks!

Be Safe, Kind, Patient, and Thoughtful today and every day. We’re all kind of struggling at one time or another. This will all be worth it. See you tomorrow!