I have always had a very powerful imagination. I'm not sure if my love of imagining led me to read books as a child, or if my constant reading caused my imagination to grow. Either way, the bottom line is that I've always lived in my head; I've had friends in my head, visited far away lands and fantastical places through imaginary journeys, and created and destroyed countless civilizations.
I distinctly remember my very first crush on a man. It was sitting through reruns of the police drama Adam 12 that I discovered the handsome Martin Milner. He played Officer Pete Malloy, one of a pair of cops riding around in the cruiser designated Adam-12. He always wore a rather form fitting uniform, and had a presence to him that, as a child, I found fascinating. It would be untrue for me to suggest I had any sort of sexual fantasies about him. After all, I was in elementary school at the time and had no clue about stuff like that. I did pretend that he was my friend and that we would do things together, though, like riding in the cruiser, rescuing people from danger together, etc. Perhaps what I experienced was more hero worship than a crush, but he stayed with me for years, both in my waking and sleeping dreams.
A shadow of where my sexuality would eventually lie came from another crush of mine in the shape of the cutie Will Robinson, played by actor Bill Mumy. Like Adam 12, I watched Lost in Space in syndication because the show was aired before I was born, but as a child, who cared about that? I remember being totally enchanted by the character of Will and wishing that he was my best friend. Of course, with a little imagination and a large cardboard box to serve as a ship, he was my best friend every weekend and during the summer months. As with Martin Milner, I don't recall any overtly sexual thoughts regarding Will, but I do remember that I loved to look at him. Due to the fact that Bill Mumy was a minor in his role of Will, I will not go into detail of where I liked to look or what scenes seem to be burned into my memories because that is edging too far into creepy territory. But as I said, my fantasies and dreams were not sexual at all. They involved boyish adventures like exploring and fighting, or Lost in Space type of adventures of being stranded on alien planets and attacked by hostiles. Fun stuff for a ten year old kid.I find that as kids grow up, one of the things that they seem to lose or ignore is their imagination. Suddenly, they are immersed in "reality", whatever that may be, and stop dreaming and fantasizing. I seem to recall a passage in the Bible that even speaks of us having to set aside childish things and entering the world of the adult. Well, sorry mortal bible writers, I disagree. Throughout junior high school, high school, and now as an adult, my imagination has been my constant companion throughout my life's journey. And though I have been told that I run from reality and take solace in what is unreal, I don't believe that to be true. I think my imagination has allowed me to see far beyond what my colleagues can see, to discover weaknesses and problems in plans before they manifest, to find solutions to situations that no one has even recognized exist, and to have words prepared for times of crisis because I envisioned all of these possibilities long ago.
To ignore reality in favor of the unreal is certainly unhealthy. That is most certainly not what I am suggesting anyone do. But, to embrace the imagination, though, is like having the gift of foresight. By playing out all of the myriad possibilities in a situation, I can very often predict what will happen, what people are going to say, or why things will succeed or fail. It's not due to magical powers, but rather to a powerful imagination. I am very glad I refused to set mine aside as society expects us to, and I never will.
Remember what Albert Einstein said. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
