Growing up in a small university community like I did, had lots of plus sides and that included having lots of childhood friends with whom I played and carried out our escapades until the ever present flow of life’s change caused us to drift apart.
I was lucky to have such childhood friends of my heart who occupy such special place in my memory bank and between these friends and large family, you had no need for an imaginary friend.
Thankfully, I am able to reconnect with a lot of them with the help of social media, while, unfortunately some of them have crossed over to the other side of the divide where the links of social media cannot traverse.
There are some of them I am yet to trace and a number of them come to my mind ever so often.
Dear Chinyelu Okonkwo,
Now and again I think about you and wonder if life is treating you well and where you are.
I haven’t seen you since we were ten and in my minds eye, you have stayed the same ten year old, precocious, vibrant friend of mine.
Naturally you would have aged like everyone else but for some reason, I can’t seem to visualize you beyond this age.
Whenever you come to my mind, I remember our child’s play of running round the school block of University Primary School, Nsukka, during break time and singing silly song’s.
I have searched now and again on social media, to see if I can find you but it hasn’t yet yielded any result.
Who knows maybe one day in this lifetime, if we still walk this side of the divide, we may yet reconnect.
Another childhood friend whom I wonder how she has fared with life is from Bangladesh and I had no idea that the name ‘Anu Misra’ was quite common until I attempted to trace her.
I found so many Anu’s, I have searched so many faces, but I couldn’t recognize any.
Maybe, this splendid exercise might yet yield some positive results. We never know these things.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
In response to The Daily Post prompt Imaginary Friend
Many of us had imaginary friends as young children. If your imaginary friend grew up alongside you, what would his/her/its life be like today? (Didn’t have one? write about a non-imaginary friend you haven’t seen since childhood.)
a cooking pot and twisted tales 
Yes you never know. I found a college friend finally accepted facebook and enjoy interacting again with her. One childhood one is occasionally on so I know she is still kicking 😀 it is quite the world now..still cannot find some others………best wishes on your searches
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Yes dear Sarah, it does help. I hope I do find them one day 🙂 have a lovely weekend my friend.
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Ahh yes I have two friends from childhood that I’ve never found and would so love to!
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I hope we find them. It would be lovely to see childhood friends 🙂
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Oh it would be lovely to meet up with childhood friends again.
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Yes it would be 🙂
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I’ve been trying to find one of my best childhood friends, for quiet some time. She shares the same not so uncommon name as me…it seem to be a little more challenging to find girls, since they often change their last name if they get married. I hope you find your friend. Have a blessed weekend.
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It really is difficult finding girls due to the name changes
I hope I do find them one day. Thank you Maria and have a blissful, blessed weekend 🙂
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It is so much fun to find these friends!
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It really is 🙂
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so much fun to reconnect!
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🙂
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I’ve never been very good at keeping in contact with friends. It’s so easy to drift apart. Social media has allowed me to reconnect with so many people who I thought had drifted out of my life completely. I hope you someday manage to reconnect with yours. 🙂
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Thanks dear. I hope so too. Have a lovely weekend 🙂
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You are right. Anu used to be a very common first name when I was growing up, Misra is a common surname in India. Put together, then name is common-squared. You can giving up any hopes of discovering your friend online with only her name to go by. At my end, one of my best friends from those days became an artist and disappeared into oblivion, and another got into the family business of running a grocery shop. Both can’t be found online.
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Oh dear! Not good news 😦 I saw so many Anu’s my eyes started rolling. Oh well!
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Anu means “little” so…so many so littles – rest your eyes.
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Really? Interesting littles 🙂
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The older I get the more I miss my childhood friend. Maybe I will try to start to find her. Thanks for the prompting.
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Thank you too Bernadette. Have a lovely weekend 🙂
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