My imaginary friend

As I sat talking with a friend last week, I found myself saying one of the most embarrassing things I've said in a while: "I wish it were still socially acceptable for 20-somethings to have imaginary friends."\nAt that point, I was ready to lock myself in a padded room and throw away the key. What was I thinking? I have plenty of friends, so why in the world would I need an imaginary one? What kind of social outcast do you have to be to want to be able to talk to someone that doesn't exist without being labeled a schizophrenic?\nA very normal one, I realized. The things I want from my imaginary friend aren't that abnormal at all. I want someone who will agree with me at all times without question on every point. I want someone who will give me the exact advice that I want to hear only when I want to hear it. I want someone who wants to see all the same movies I do and won't make fun of me for crying at the sappy ones. Basically, I want a duplicate of myself.\nThat's exactly what your imaginary friends are when you're a little kid. They're pretty much you with a different, and weirder, name. Sure they may only be 2 inches tall or live in sink drain, but as far as personality goes, they're the best friend you've ever had because they're you.\nAs I sat there pondering the possibility of having an imaginary friend without being locked away and heavily medicated, it came to me: College students already have imaginary friends. Who do you call when you want to talk to someone just like you? Yourself, or, at least, your cell phone.\nYou know what I'm talking about. You walk into Nick's 20 minutes after you were supposed to meet your friends just to be sure that you wouldn't be the first one there. Unfortunately, your friends decided that 30 minutes late would be better. What do you do now that you're all alone in the bar feeling like an absolute loser?\nYou pick up your cell phone and pretend to be talking to someone. Who? Your imaginary friend. The person on the other line is none other than that projection of yourself that you thought you gave up when you were 4 years old. You might not be talking to anyone, but the figment of your imagination is just as comforting as when you were a kid. \nAs you sit and talk to your imaginary friend, you discuss who you're meeting, who is supposed to be on their way and how aggravated you are that they're all late. The imaginary friend agrees with you, as any good imaginary friend does, and you continue to discuss the fact that you're not just at the bar by yourself, you're just on time.\nDon't pretend you have no idea what I'm talking about. You know you do it. I've seen you do it. You're all alone at a table feeling uncomfortable, so you pick up your phone and talk to your imaginary friend.\nDon't be embarrassed. It's alright. There's nothing wrong with you. You've just employed the same mentality you did when you were a toddler to comfort yourself. You've created someone out of thin air to help you keep yourself occupied. The person on the other end of the phone is ready to agree with you on every point and prove to the rest of the world that you really do have friends.\nThere's nothing to be ashamed of. We've all done it. Just make sure your phone's on silent. There's nothing worse than having your conversation with your imaginary friend interrupted by the ring from an actual friend's phone call.