Julia and the Poodle

Recently my mom reminded me off my childhood imaginary friends. Julia and a poodle. I don’t remember the poodle’s name but that may be because the memory of him has been suppressed due to his tragic death, which I will elaborate on later.

Julia was not a normal imaginary friend. Julia was a deviant. She liked to push boundaries and break all the rules. I on the other hand have always followed the rules, although my parents may think differently. My friends are sworn to secrecy!

There is one incident that I remember quite vividly. My parents had purchased a mini sewing machine for me. Much like this one:

It worked just like a normal sized sewing machine, but it was mini. I liked this sewing machine. I enjoyed being able to be my mom`s sewing sidekick. But then Julia showed up. Now from what I can remember, I liked Julia. In terms of imaginary friends, she was cool. She wasn`t all that bright though. On this particular occasion, Julia decided to sabotage the mini sewing machine. She took a pair of scissors and cut the machines peddle right off the sewing machine! I don’t think she understood that without the peddle it was completely useless. She did not hesitate and had no regard for how my parents would react.

Parents: Jody, why did you cut of the foot of your sewing machine?

Me: Julia did it.

Parents: Jody....

Me: Julia did it.

Now my parents may say that it was me that cut of the peddle off my sewing machine but it was most definitely Julia`s fault.

Now on to the poodle. Let’s call it Fluffy because that’s the first name that comes to mind. Again, Fluffy’s death was so tragic; I have erased all my memories of him. This story is purely based on my parent’s recollection of the events.

Fluffy, not unlike Julia, was the source of many irritating moments for my parents. I’m sure I didn’t feel the same way but as noted with Julia above, we often had differing opinions on my imaginary friends.

My family was on a road trip, most likely to New Brunswick to visit family. I had decided on this particular trip that Fluffy should come with us. Being a small child, I sometimes had trouble controlling my imaginary dog. Fluffy was being particularly annoying on this trip. I can only assume that he was running all over the place, probably all over my dad while he was trying to concentrate on driving. Fluffy was out of control and my dad had reached his boiling point with my imaginary poodle. At the peak of the chaos, my father asked if he could see Fluffy. Being a trusting child, I handed over my precious childhood friend. I was not at all prepared for what was about to happen.

My father rolled down his window and tossed Fluffy out. –“Insert open mouth, wide eyed stare”-

Fluffy was never heard of again. My father maintains to this day that Fluffy might have survived this incident. I’m pretty sure that it was this incident that caused me to erase all childhood memories of my beloved imaginary pet dog.

Note: All animal lovers, please remember, that this is an imaginary pet. My father does not usually harm animals.  His actions were out of sheer exhastion of dealing with his childs crazy imagination.  Also, I do not normally think animal cruelty is humorous, aside from the first post about the dead bird. Sometimes I can’t control what things make me laugh.

Dad, I forgive you.