Sunday, November 12, 2006

Mirror Image

As an only child, whose parents divorced after a scant few years of marriage, I spent an extraordinate amount of time at home alone, playing by myself. No, I didn't say playing with myself, sicko.

So, around the age of 4, my mom became concerned as it seemed I developed an unnatural fixation with the attached mirror on my bureau drawers. She told me that she would stroll past my room, and was startled to hear me engaged in long, drawn out conversations while staring blankly into the glass. At first, she just blew it off, but then she noticed that I stayed awake late into the night talking to some unseen girl named "Rebecca." Things progressed over time to the point where I'd squander hours just conversing with my mirror. Worried, my mom started listening in, and told me that I spoke and laughed with "Rebecca" as though she were a real person.

Beyond freaked, my mom tried to lessen the time spent in my quarters. A couple years went by, and assuming that a change of locale would halt my behavior, we moved. It didn't change anything, and my mother finally decided to throw out the mirror with the curbside trash the night she walked past my room, and heard another voice speaking back to me.

True story.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

When I was 5 I married my puppet. It was a tiger. My grandma played the organ and everything. Tears flowed freely, it was a beautiful ceremony.

Super Happy Girl said...

Scary.
Reminds me of Alice Through the Looking-Glass . I’ve never liked Alice in Wonderland, just too creepy for me.

When I was little had 2 dolls that were very scary looking. At night I’d put them inside of my closet, place all my shoes on top of them, shut the door and put a little chair against the door.
For some reason during the day, even though they looked scary, I knew they couldn’t do anything to me.

Super Happy Girl said...

I have a confession to make: when I read WOO WOO for the first time on your blog, I thought you where talking about this WOO WOO.
Sorry, I'm just a nerd.
True story.

Millie said...

My grandparents lived in a mobile home when I was little and one of their dining room walls was covered by a wide hutch with a big mirror in the middle. I wouldn't ever eat my dinner and looked in the mirror at myself instead. It was much too fascinating.

Gran would say, "I'm going to take that damn mirror and paint it black!" :)

jams o donnell said...

Another occasion where you have me lost for words! LOL This is becoming a habit!!

elasticwaistbandlady said...

a payne- I dated a puppet once, except he did what I told him without me ever having to put my hand in his butt. Male subservience can be such a sweet thing.

NCS- Yes, we know as members of the church that mirrors have a lot of symbology to it. Good and bad stuff like portals to other dimensions, and things like that. :o Yeah, I had to turn my stuffed animals around at night, or I just couldn't get to sleep with all those little plastic eyes upon me. WOO WOO came from lianne's "Maternal Alchemy" musings. That's what they call anything out of the familiar, and I just glommed onto it, because I like the sound of saying, WOO WOO! It can also be a reference to Jeffrey's Osbornes WOO WOO SONG!

millie- My oldest daughter watches her reflection in everything, even the windows. It's a bit distracting for her, and I have to remind her of Aesop's Fables tale of Narcissus.

jams!!!- I'm weird, and I've lived a weird life. Sometimes, there are no words for such things, and thats okay......

Christy said...

Oli is obsessed with is reflection, if there is ever a mirror around (or the TV or anything that will give him a reflection of himself) when he is talking to me he talks to it instead of me.

Both of my boys have had invisible friends, Joe's friend was Wilbur; he was a train and a very naughty one at that. Oli's friend is named cup, he lives in California and is a black belt in Karate... he has every cool toy known to mankind!

Elizabeth-W said...

I thought you had a brother?
Maybe you have Dissociative Identity Disorder (as recently featured on 'er') ;)

Becky said...

that was so scary i want to throw up.

elasticwaistbandlady said...

on the run- That's what daughter number one, Sunbum, does! Papi gets upset when he's trying to talk to her and her eyes are diverted from his staring off into her own reflection.

elizabeth- My first brother didn't arrive until I was 10 years old. I AM my father's only child, though.

becky- Look at the bottom of my blog for a coupon good towards a free multi-pack of smiley faced barf bags. Only to be used by my favorite commenters like you though.

Anonymous said...

Seems simi real, well what happened later on?
-haylea