Travelation

Irini walks into the living room and announces that she is doing "travelation". Natalia and Laurence look at each other quizzically. She walks over to one of the boxes with toys, does a fair share of rummaging and finds a small pink purse. She puts a couple toys inside and then turns abruptly to head to her little table with an adjoining 'library' area. There too she does some looking around and pulls out a small sketchbook. She puts that into her bag also.

She then happily moves back to the sofas, where Natalia is sitting, takes the sketchbook out of her bag and places it in Natalia's hands. And waits. We look at her. She looks at us with a smile and says "that's my passport!". Laurence is still confused, but Natalia understands immediately. She pretends to stamp the passport, hands it back to Irini who promptly places it back into her bag. She pulls the bag up to her shoulder and walks to the other side of the sofas. She turns back to face her parents and happily says "I'm going on an airplane. I'll be back in two days". By now Laurence is in on it as well.

Both Natalia and Laurence gasp, realizing that this is the first time ever their daughter has talked about leaving, even if it is for an imaginary trip. "Two days?!" they both exclaim. She looks back at them, contemplates for a moment and then responds, "five days". By now Natalia and Laurence are looking at each other with longing eyes, hoping the day never comes. Natalia tries to understand why, even in play, she might want to leave. "To see my friend" says Irini. So Natalia gives her an alternative. "Why don't you call your friend and tell her to come visit us for five days instead?" Irini smiles broadly and responds, "okay!".

Disaster has been averted, at least for the time being. The family is still together, with the addition of one imaginary friend. We can live with that... and hope that the real travelation won't happen for a while yet. Kisses and hugs are promptly shared for a decision well made. :-)