Two Old Gals in PJ's

It Was Another Pajama Party…46 Years Later!

One of my best friends from high school, Janiece Duke Kelley ('71), just celebrated her birthday with a great BIG FAT ZERO on the end of it.  Those in our class know which number that would be.  Our paths crossed in our early childhood as I shared classes with Janiece at Elm Street Elementary School.  

Janiece & Pat in 3rd Grade
Mrs. Newton's Class | Elm Street
We were not friends yet, but would be!

In junior high Janiece invited me to her 14th Birthday Pajama Party. Even though it was her birthday, attending that slumber party gave me a gift I had never had before:  a best friend.  It was the beginning of our life-long friendship.

Fast forward to now.  I’m still younger than her…just saying, Janiece.  At my age, I'm planning on having all the fun I can while I can.  Surprisingly the outgoing, vivacious best friend of my youth was reluctant to go along with my idea of another pajama party.  She balked because I wanted to go to a public restaurant in our pajamas!  Instead of jumping on board for the fun, Janiece was running the other way with me hanging on to the back of her shirt.  I was like a dog with a bone and didn’t let go until she agreed.  It was just like old times, arguing with each other until I won. 

Janiece (left) & Pat (right)

No photos of our first pajama party, but 

documented this one 46 years later!

The PJ Party at a table in corner at LaMarie’s (Broad Street, Rome) included a special lunch identical to ones we once enjoyed as teens in her Mama’s kitchen.  Banana sandwiches, potato chips, Kit-Kat candy bars, and ice cold Coca-Cola in a glass bottle.  For more authenticity, we deliberately talked about boys. Those boys must be, well, our age by now! 

I think that we may have had more fun at the 2^nd Pajama Party than we did at the first one.  Of course, my memory fails me at times so can’t be 100% sure.  

Time changes some things.  Like my brain drain.  Our hair is white and the wrinkles are creeping in.  We weigh, oh, a pound or two more.  Yet other things never change.  Some things are steadfast.  Like our friendship and the fact that I will always be youngest!

Glad I Didn't Miss Out on the Fun!

This is an open letter to my OLDest friend, Janiece.  But if you are not her, you can still read on without guilt.  This is a mini-dissertation on a forty-six year friendship.

OLDest on the left | YOUNGest on the right

Hello, N-Poo aka Birf-day Gurl!

My first instinct was to get overly sentimental and tell you how much the double-significance of your birthday means to me.  

I thought about what my teenage years would have been like if you had not invited me to your 14^th Birthday Pajama Party.  Or if in my bashfulness, I had decided not to go. If we had not become fast friends, I would have missed out on so much teenage fun.

The Three Mus-ka-teers might not have come together to create mischief.  I would have missed being a part of that trio of friends who got into some mischief, but not too much thanks to Debby-Do, our cute, short-in-stature, big-in-personality, level-headed pard’ner!  

I would not have gotten to know and love Cotton & Agnes, who were like 2^nd parents to me. There would have been no evenings spent at Bud’s store, warming our backsides in front of the heater and drinking cokes filled with peanuts. No cruising Shorter Avenue in your parent's big green Dodge.  

No trips to Florida riding in the back seat, giggling to the point that my parents wanted ear plugs!  No rodeos in Montgomery with Cotton, in our Levi jeans and western shirts with our boots kicking up dust while we gawked at those cowboys!  Still like doing that, how about you?

I would not have known the fun of weekend trail rides and buckin' horses or seeing someone thrown off at the "No Dumping Sign".  I would never have gotten the nickname, "Whoa Doc", or known the need for baseball bats on our saddle horns.  There might not have been any missing saddles and or me shaking in my shoes with a detective knocking on your door.  I think that one was YOUR idea.

Would have missed being pulled behind your Daddy's truck in the snow, sitting next to you in an upturned 1940's car hood, screaming with joy.  Never would have known how delicious a banana sandwich, Kit Kat, and a bottle of cold coke could be.  Would have missed those evenings sitting in the swing on your front porch, talking about boys and discussing other important things like...well, boys.

The great memories go on and on.  Wait!  I also would have missed all that fussin’ and fightin’ like we were sisters, with Debby always being the peacemaker.  Hey, we still do that!!  Which is what snapped me out of this sentimental mush.  

Sooooo, happy birthday with a great BIG FAT ZERO on the end of it!  You are my OLDest friend, oh yeah, my OLD friend for forty-six – count them – 46 years!!  But I’m still younger, na-na-na-nah!  

I have a big, smug grin on my face, which I thought I would mention since in your dotage you might not remember I always do that when talking about your age.

Some things never change.  Some things are steadfast.  Like our friendship and the fact that I will always be youngest!  Love ya, girl!