Not the state. Audrey's imaginary friend.
Naturally you'd think Cali is from California since we used to live there and since Audrey is fully capable of making such an association, but that's not the case. Cali is from Chicago. She may have been to California but to my knowledge she spends all her time between Chicago and Boulder.
Cali particularly enjoys spending time near the top of the tree in our neighbor's backyard, which we can view while we eat breakfast in the morning. As Audrey eats her cereal they'll say hello to each other and Audrey will make sure we see her there too.
Cali has brown hair and is somewhere between 4 and 8 years old. Usually she is 8 and I suspect that's because Audrey is particularly attracted to kids around that age. Cali has another friend whose name escapes me at the moment because this friend is new. But apparently imaginary friends have friends too.
And Cali spends lots of time on planes. Every day, in fact, she leaves Boulder for Chicago to go home and see her family. And she obviously takes the early flight back because she's there to see Audrey first thing. It's no big deal of course - flying all the time doesn't wear you out when you're imaginary. Unless, of course, you take an imaginary supersonic flight that gets you between two places so quickly that the inconvenience of travel is trivial.
Or Cali may be able to fly herself, given she hangs out near the top of a tree. In fact she must, given how thin and sparse the branches are up there.
In any case, Cali is always a pleasure, wishing us good morning and smiling at us in a way that's difficult to describe. She's in Audrey's head but in some strange way is present at our daily morning meal.
I'm wondering who Grace will have as an imaginary friend. Perhaps her name will be Chi-town and she'll be from California.
