I've was thinking of imaginary friends the other day. So many of my (real) friends have small kids and just seeing them reminds me not so much of my own kids when they were little, but of my childhood. This will be a somewhat rambling post because I have more than one thought rolling through my cranium today.

To this day I have a fascination with Egypt and all things Egyptian. This started when I was really quite young, about 4 or 5. And you have to remember, this was back in the fifties. This was after the time of dinosaurs but before VCR's, DVD's, home computers and colour TV. We did have a TV, albeit black & white and it only got one channel...and even that was "iffy". You had to move the antenna (known as Rabbit Ears) around until the channel was picked up with a minimum of static. Yes, my children, this was our entertainment and we survived without all of todays technology. What did we do? We read, we played cards and board games and we had imaginary friends. Well, I had imaginary friends...I'm not too sure if other people did.

We played outside. We would go out after supper and meet our friends and play all manner of games. Hide n' Seek, Tag, Red Rover, Simon Says, amongst other games. We would run and play until we heard our parents call us and then we would ignore the calls for a bit longer and eventually we would meander our way home. No one worried about strangers or pedophiles or any sort of abductions. We were healthy and happy and had no worries other than...well, I can't think of any...I really didn't have any worries as a child.

This time of year, the fall, reminds me of those days. The smell of burning leaves and the crispness in the air. It reminds me of children at play and the sinking of the sun earlier and earlier as we played wildly, trying to get the last bit of joy from the season before Winter arrived. Of course nowadays, the shriek of kids at play is usually only heard on the playground, during school hours. In the evenings, kids are home watching TV or on their computer or X-box.

Anyhow, I digress. I was going to talk about imaginary friends. I had 2. Their names were "Shusha" and "Deedelee" To this day, I can remember them as if they were real. I'd talk to them as if they were right beside me. I didn't go so far as to make my Mother set them a place at the table or anything, but I would carry on regular conversations with them. One always stood on my left, and the other on my right. They weren't my age, but I'm not sure how old they were. Old. And dressed in white and silver and gold. They had black hair and soft voices. I can picture them right now.

Now, I also want to mention reincarnation and previous lives. I do believe in reincarnation. Maybe not for everyone, but I certainly believe that some of us have had a prior life. I think that I was a person who lived in ancient Egypt...ok, don't laugh or close out my blog in horror..I know that some of you have a more scientific approach to life and death, and that's ok, we all have our differences, which is what makes it fun to talk to one another. But, at age 4 and 5 I had never had any opportunity to see or learn anything about Egypt. As far as TV goes, I was allowed to watch Romper Room and The Friendly Giant. That was it. Nothing else. Neither of my parents had any affiliation or relationship with anyone or anything of an Egyptian nature. My mother hated TV and refused to have it on, other than for those 2 shows. As a matter of fact, we never had a TV in the living room, she said it was like a big eye staring you, sucking the "smarts" right out of you. She was most assuredly ahead of her time. But once again I wander from my topic.

Now, one day when my Mother and I were going downtown, we stopped at an electronics store to view the "new & modern" colour TV. Apparently, there was a show on about ancient Egypt and I gasped and grabbed her hand and pointed and cried out: "Mummy, look, that's a picture of Shusha and Deedelee!" (obviously you can guess that I had just seen pictures of ancient Egyptians). I don't remember much of that day, but I do remember my heart pounding and the feeling of adrenaline rushing through my body. It was the first time I had ever had that feeling, and it was almost like a epiphany, or a feeling of clarity that all was well with my little life. Since then, I was enamoured and transfixed by all things to do with ancient Egypt.

So there you are. Make of that what you will. Here we are, some (ahem) 40-odd years later and I still yearn to go to Egypt and see the pyramids with my own eyes, to sail down the Nile on a barge. I can imagine the hot sun on my shoulders. I can hear the splash of the oars in the water and hear the rustle of the reeds alongside the shore. I can feel the chill in the air as the huge sun decends and I can hear the sounds of the children at play in the twilight.