There's Something About Mary

Gloria has what we consider a semi-imaginary friend right now. There's a girl named Mary in her Sunday school class that Gloria likes to make up stories about. She knows exactly what Mary is doing at any given moment of the day and will tell us fascinating stories about Mary's whole family.

I've told Gloria that her stories are wonderful and we can start typing up some of her "Mary Stories" on her blog. After she gets enough of them we'll print them and make them into a little book. The important thing is that we all understand, including Gloria, that these stories are not true. Until just recently every time Gloria would see something or hear something she would think up a "what if" sort of situation and say, "I have a friend who..." and her friend always has or does these incredible things.

We talked to her about the importance of telling the truth and told her that instead she should say, "Wouldn't it be strange if I had a friend who...?" She tried that for a while but didn't like it. The Mary stories have now taken the place of all her imagined friends. We're just hoping that she will make a good real friend at church. By the way, I actually have met Mary once. She's pretty and sweet but doesn't say much.