Imagination

I have always been a very private person, keeping to myself and sometimes lost in my own thoughts. As a child, I sought to create a world were I could hide from the demons in my life. I built mental walls around me, and then walls around those walls, creating, an imaginary world where my mind could take me anywhere I dreamed of. Within this world I had an imaginary friend: I named him Michael. Michael and I shared many adventures. He was the one person I could always count on to never hurt me and always be there when I needed him.

Behind our house was a stand of trees, just a few trees, but to a young boy of 6 or 7, they seemed like a vast forest. In the forest I would build a fortress out of collected junk and defend the neighborhood, with the help of Micheal, from all enemies real and imagined. In my forest, I was always a Knight, I fashioned weapons from wood and armor from tin cans and cardboard, I even had a drawbridge over a ditch. My sister, who I hated at that age, was the Maiden that needed to be defended and many battles were fought in her defense. I'm not even sure if she was aware of the danger, but she was defended none the less.

After a few years we moved to a rural area and my introverted world expanded. I now had real forests with cliffs and a creek to explore. My favorite spot though, was a draw running through our back yard. On its sides I would dig defense works for toy soldiers and dig defenses for the opposing troops on the other side. I would spend the entire day engrossed with troop movements and lobbing rocks (artillery) at the enemy. As I aged my BB gun would replace the rocks and I had more accurate artillery fire: That's how I honed my shooting skill.

It's really sad that children today sit behind a tv or computer and never have a chance to experience their own imagination. I didn't realize at the time, how fortunate I was to have mine, but now I feel blessed that I did.

Over time Michael stopped visiting and I moved on to other interests, But I never lost my imagination, and to this day, I can close out the world around me and go anywhere or be anything I want to. I think that is one of the reasons I want to sail the world, because after a Knight, I was always a Pirate.