My name is Mr. Granger and I live in a cabin in the woods. Well, in the swamp, to be more precise. You might think this sounds less than ideal, but I like it. It's a cute little cabin with a blue roof and a wrap around porch. In the winter, the chimney will be active, throwing the scent of a wood fire into the air. All around me are tall trees and pools of water where the land gives way to wetland swamp. Truly, it's charming.

You see, I live in a cabin in the swamp, not because I particularly like swamps... though I don't mind them... but because monsters need care, too. I'm not talking about the cottonmouth snakes or the snapping turtles or gators. No, I'm talking about all the outgrown imaginary friends that aren't ready to leave us yet.

(Oh, and by the way, we really never call them "monsters". They're "friends". Just a little FYI so you don't offend anyone.)

Most imaginary friends, by the time their children have outgrown them, are ready to go into retirement. But, sometimes, there are a few that want to keep working and so they come to live with me in the swamp for a while, or at other Homes for Imaginary Friends, at least until the next child comes along.

Yep, I'm a real life Home for Imaginary Friends, just like on that reality TV show that Madam Foster made. They did a great job with that show. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I learned everything I know about the care of imaginary friends from Madam Foster and I count Mac and Bloo as good buddies of mine.

Now, they had to dramatize the show a little to make it interesting. Like, making Mac have an older brother, Terrence, who's a bully. Totally not true; Mac doesn't even have an older brother. He's got a sister, Teresa, and she's a real sweetheart. Not to mention pretty and smart. I like her a lot. I wouldn't mind her coming to live with me in the swamp, that's for sure!

Now, the imaginary friends that I take care of are of the large variety; they just physically wouldn't fit into an average house. Hence, it's good to live in the swamp because there's room. They have to have time to get smaller, which can take years, until they'll be ready to go with a child into a modern day home.

Some of the friends have been waiting for a new child for a long time and sometimes, they get discouraged and look for other things to do. Like, take Sulley for example. Sulley used to be as big as my house! His bright blue fur was almost as long as I am tall. It took a long time for him to shrink; so long that he gave up looking for another child and took a job with Monsters, Incorporated.

He wasn't really happy to be scaring children at first, but, it was a job, you know? And, in the end, what he did was at least useful to the other imaginary friends who had retired in the city. (I'm betting, though, if those retired friends knew how Monsters, Inc. used to power their town, they'd be upset. But, I digress.)

He was thrilled when his best friend, Mike, discovered that they could collect the laughter of children in order to power the retirement city. And, he is so happy having gotten to know Boo, his new child. He's got the best of both worlds; he gets to spend time with Boo and keep his job as CEO of Monsters, Inc. Just another success story of the Foster's method for supporting imaginary friends.

Right now, my problem friend is Cecelia. Cecelia, who you can see lurking in the background on the cover of this book, is a large blue monster (but not as blue as Sulley) with an overbite and big, green, cat-like eyes. And she's huge! Way bigger than the house! But, she likes the outdoors so it's cool that she has to live outside.

Cecelia is struggling to love herself. She never learned how to because her child couldn't teach what he didn't know, so she had no one to study as an example of how to do it. The little boy didn't love himself and, as he got older, he loved himself less and less. He was different and that wasn't okay with him. He just wanted to be the same as everyone else. When Cecelia tried to comfort him and tell him how great he was, he got really angry and deliberately stopped spending time with her. As we all know, it is time that is required to create and keep that bond between child and imaginary friend. Slowly, they drifted apart and Cecelia came to live with me.

So, I'm trying to help Cecilia learn to love herself. I take her to therapy with a very nice man, Mr. Jerry, who is at the psychiatric hospital. He's a specialist in the field of imaginary friends and has dedicated his life to helping them, no matter what it makes the other patients, and his own therapist, think of him. He's a good man and he's helped Cecelia a lot.

She's gotten a little smaller over the three years she's been with us, but isn't yet small enough to fit into the house, obviously. I estimate that it'll take her about twenty years before she can walk in the front door. If she learns the art of Self Love, though, she'll shrink faster because she'll be ready to help another child sooner. That's the way it works.

Cecelia works hard with her therapist. Let me tell you about the time that a child came looking for an imaginary friend and brought her older brother. Cecelia loved him...