Day 26: Say hello to my imaginary friend

After a long week of struggling to make myself go out there and get rejected, I was glad when Jacki met up with me for drinks and some food last Friday night. (Check out her rejection from that night too!) I had a few ideas in my head for mine, which I ran by her when we met up. She laughed at one of them and thought the other was just "meh", so I decided to go with the one that got the laughs.

We ordered our goodies (I've said before I have a thing about getting rejected where there's food nearby... I need to explore this with a therapist) and were nearing the end of a delicious meal when I said Ok, I gotta do this. Jacki pointed out a table of three young men sitting together in a huddle, so I got up and went over.

"Excuse me, I wanted to ask you fellas a favor. Would you be willing to draw a picture of me with my imaginary friend? Not my real friend (referring to Jacki) but my imaginary friend. I have paper you can use, and a pen!" I pulled paper and pen out of my purse. Yes, I came to the bar with supplies ready specifically for this rejection.

The three of them looked at each other like they were wondering if they heard me right, and got tentative, uncomfortable smiles on their faces. I hate to admit it but their initial hesitation just fueled my desire to push their buttons. I'm not as considerate as Jacki I guess. "Anyone?? How about you?" I pointed to one of them. Silence. Looks around the table. Finally he shook his head and said "No...I'm sorry, I can't do that."

Dude in green was not impressed.

I looked at the guy on my other side "Would you do it?" He was giggling so I thought I could rope him into it. Even though I was already rejected, I wanted to see what would result from this exchange. He shook his head no through his tee hee's and I said "Come on!" a couple times, but to no avail. Rejected twice in the span of a minute! Not bad.

Finally I looked at the third guy with a hopeful smile. He and been quiet up to now, but he had a big grin on his face - part amused, part uncomfortable, but the amused part was winning out. He seemed to think this was all very funny, unlike the other two. I pleaded with him and I finally got my wish! "Tell you what," he said. "You leave the paper and pen here with and I'll take care of you."

"Yay! I'll just be over there with my friend and when we're ready to leave I'll come and pick up your drawing, ok?" He agreed, and I practically skipped backed to my seat I was so glad that he was going to do it.

On the way out I went back over and asked if he had drawn the picture. I thought he was going to back out, but he flipped the paper over and handed me this:

One big happy family!

Ok, so not what I was thinking, but who knows how others perceive our imaginary friends? He added the initials after I went back, btw. He asked my name, Jacki's name (I don't know why he kept mistaking her for my imaginary friend) and in the middle there is one of his buddies that refused my request, Anderson. I think he drew a picture of happy non-traditional family. Or maybe Anderson is jumping on our shoulders cheerleader-style. I can't be sure. But after two rejections, to come out with this Picasso is a victory in my eyes.