Who? Hoopie!

Hoopie was my best friend. Really, when I lived on the farm, she was my only friend. When I played with my china tea set, behind the propane stove that heated the house, she was there to drink tea with me and listen to my ceaseless chattering. When it was time to trudge upstairs for my afternoon nap, Hoopie walked right beside me. When I was supposed to be asleep, she knelt beside me as I gazed longingly out the bedroom window. While Mom hung the laundry out on the clothesline in the yard, Hoopie joined me as we darted in and out and around the clothes billowing gently in the breeze. And, when Mom insisted that I was big enough to use the outhouse without her help, Hoopie went with me, adding a little extra security, even though I always kept the door open just a crack to let the sunshine in.

Hoopie rode right next to me in the backseat of our blue Ford when we visited Grandma and Grandpa, or drove into town to go to church or buy some groceries, but she usually waited in the car when I got to go visiting, especially when I got to play with Aunt Marilyn and my cousins. Poor Hoopie always took second place whenever I had a chance to play with real people.

I loved my baby brother, but he wasn't a very
good playmate, at least not yet.
It seems like kids don't have imaginary friends anymore. In all my years of teaching, I don't remember more than one or two of my youngest students who admitted to having an imaginary friend. From the time they are just a few weeks old, kids in daycare are surrounded by children who become their instant friends. And, at home, children may spend their time watching so many TV programs and movies that those ready-made characters provide them with a sort of friendship. In addition, many children are provided with a surplus of toys and adult attention--so much so, that they simply don't have time or reason to use their imaginations.

So, imaginary friends seem to have gone by the wayside, replaced with electronic gadgets and playgroups and daycare friends.

By the time I was four, almost five, when it was time for the whole family to move to Norfolk, Hoopie stayed behind on the farm. By then, I had a little brother who was finally old enough to play with me, and Daisy, our new, black Cocker Spaniel puppy, to confide in, and lots of neighborhood playmates to keep me company. It wasn't long before I started Kindergarten, and found a whole new world of friends.

I can't tell you what Hoopie looked like. I don't know how she got her name. I don't remember ever hearing her voice, but I know she was an excellent listener and a good friend. Hoopie was irreplaceable--and unforgettable.


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