Tuesday, July 10, 2012

A New Member of the Family

There seems to be a new addition to our family. I’m not sure exactly when she arrived; we noticed her about 3 weeks ago. I don’t know how long she’ll stay either. As long as she doesn’t cause any problems, she’s really a pretty easy house guest. Well, except when I don’t see her and accidently step on her. Her name is Ditta. I’m told she’s four years old. Her favorite restaurant is Chick-Fil-A but her favorite food is cheeseburgers. That piece doesn’t make sense to me, but these are the facts as reported by Anna. Ditta sleeps in the “other bed” in Anna’s room,” the one by the dresser.” If you’ve never been in Anna’s room, there is no “other bed by the dresser.” But, that’s really no important. Ditta can sleep there anyway. After all, Ditta IS imaginary.


About three weeks ago, Anna started mumbling to someone. When we asked who she was talking to, Anna replied, “Ditta!” “Who,” we asked. “DITTA!” “Ditta?” “Yes. DITTA!!” Since our initial encounter with Ditta, we’ve seen Anna feed Ditta. We’ve seen Anna read to Ditta. We’ve seen Anna tuck Ditta in for a nap. We’ve been asked not to sit in certain chairs at certain times because Ditta wants to sit there. We even saw Anna use a chip clip to trim Ditta’s toe nails. (Granted, I had just trimmed Anna & Ellen’s toe nails.) Anna moved slowly along the bench on the deck, opening & closing a chip clip, chanting “clippy-clippy-clippy.” “What are you doing, Anna?” “Trimming Ditta’s toenails,” she answered ever so matter-of-factly. “OH,” I said.

Ditta comes and goes. I didn’t hear about Ditta for a couple of days & thought maybe she’d gone. (Where do imaginary friends go anyway when they’re not around?) But then, I found Anna sitting on the stairs by the front door. She said that she was waiting for Ditta to pick her up. She said they were going to the grocery store & she asked if I needed anything. Makes sense. If Ditta’s going to be hanging around, the least she can do is pick up a few groceries.

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