Making Believe

Walking into a restaurant today I saw a young girl with her mother clutching a baby doll. She held the doll close to her chest, cradling her head and her eyes were bright. It took me back to the times when I was little, and had my "babies" that I played pretend with . I had dollbabies that would drink bottles and cry tears, and when I was playing with them, they came alive and I became mommy. I had beautiful blonde Barbie dolls with gorgeous gowns, outrageous blue eyes and pink corvettes, with a mansion and a beautiful boyfriend named Ken. The idea of making believe, pretending you were mommy, or a cowboy, or a beautiful princess could keep you busy for hours on end, and hope of "making believe" made us anticipate the future.

Making Believe...what a concept. It is thought to be an escape, or an exercise of our imagination when we are younger. When we are older, "making believe" can be negative, like we are avoiding reality. But is it really all that bad to make believe...to force yourself to have hope in something...to produce something that you can trust.

Maybe making believe could actually help us reach dreams we are scared to try and attain, or keep us brave when we are scared of falling apart. When I was a little chunky 4th grader, I was brave and strong when I pretended to be a graceful horse trainer princess (yes, I was a three dimensional character), and I had the chutzpah to try things that normally scared me (like the monkey bars). But in those moments, making believe helped me. Or when I was on stage singing as a little girl and my momma would tell me to "make believe" all the people in the audience had polka-dotted underwear on. That thought in my mind kept me so busy I forgot to be so nervous.

That little girl today touched me so deeply. Her eyes were bright, her smile was big, and her steps were light, she made me remember...

...MAKE YOURSELF BELIEVE...