PJs

Everyone needs a "PJ Day". I highly recommend this as a monthly occurrence.

Give yourself a permission to spend a day at leisure... a day to get up, not get dressed; to wander between tasks you want to do, and do them when you want to do them. That means cereal for breakfast and dinner is fine. Watching reruns and falling asleep in a comfy chair is okay too. Looking at the bit of fluff on the floor rather than vacuuming it up (along with a few of his friends) is acceptable.

About a week ago, I was fortunate enough to experience a PJ Day in conjunction with another wonderfully indulgent day making the experience the perfect combination!! A life-long friend got caught up in that time/space continuum that sucks minutes out of the space between transferring airline flights, and ended up spending an unscheduled day in the area. I knew in advance this could be a possibility, and while I did appreciate her need to return home after a long time away,, I was secretly hoping we'd be able to connect.... and we did. We spent a day doing some errands, laughing, sitting in comfortable silence (the way long-time dear friends do, yet still know what is being "unsaid" between them), and enjoying good food before heading back to the airport.

One moment that will remain in my memory from this day -- and upon which I reflected several times on my indulgent PJ day that followed -- was the few minutes we spent in a photo booth having our pictures taken together. This is a long tradition for us -- starting in the late 1980s after seeing the movie "Beaches". In the film, two life-long friends (who had met on a beach -- not unlike our story), had their pictures taken at a photo booth -- a practice they continued throughout their lives. After seeing that movie, and before my friend moved from Ontario to the east coast, we headed to a photo booth and did the same thing. We have done that several times during the past many, many years, and on my wall, I have the proof in several black and white photos of my friend and I in amusing, silly and serious poses.

As I sat in my PJs on the following Sunday, I smiled at the latest addition to that collection, taken the day before.  Not only was my indulgent PJ day restoring balance in my life, but I also felt incredibly blessed to have been able to spend that time with my friend.