L J P...

A BFF tale...



My first (and probably last) in what might be considered the true sense of the word. In fact, I'm actually somewhat surprised we didn't coin the acronym back in the day...

Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of wonderful friendships in my life and I certainly hope to have many more, but there was just something so very different, special and once-in-a-lifetime about this one. Perhaps it was because we were so young and hadn't completely discovered ourselves yet.. or maybe it was because nobody else liked us!

But we were exactly the same. We called each others mom's "mom", had the same thoughts, finished each other's sentences, had the same dreams, shared the same jokes, smokes, the driving, a bad sense of direction, pj's and the occassional outfit and boyfriend. In short, we pretty much inhabited the same space for a while (even though height-wise I was about a foot taller)...

But there we were. Mutt and Jeff, Tom and Huck, Thelma and Louise, Paris and Nicole, Lucy and Ethel...

I'm sure at that time we could never have ever imagined just how much our paths would eventually diverge and that how one day we would end up not really talking that much at all. Not that we wouldn't talk all night again if we ever had the chance... but we just never have the chance. And I'm pretty sure that the content of any late night discussions we might have now would be very, very different from the late night 'discussions' we had back then...

The first time I met my BFF was on our first night of rehearsal for a community theatre production of "West Side Story." I had escaped the dismal thespian world of Hacienda Heights and had headed over the hill that summer to a place where the opportunities were a little more promising. Anyway, there she was practicing this lift with one of the chorus guys when he almost dropped her and her eyes suddenly locked on mine (I just happened to be the only one standing there) with this big wide eyed "OMG... hahaha... Help Me!!!" face. Well, I was hooked instantly! And the rest is history. By the way, just to prevent any possible confusion here... the word is "Thespian." You can Google it.


Jannet and Lorna - 1971


Andy's SuperBurger - Our Nightly Hangout

I seriously can't remember too much more about my years from age 16 to 18 except for the time we spent together... and when ya think about it those formative years can take up a whole lot of space in one's life. I mean, those events and memories can actually add up to a lot more than say, those from even 26 to 58, which I am now... almost. Funny how that is.

But anyway... other than suffering through school all week (and doing community shows in the summertime) we pretty much just looked forward to the weekends when we could drive into Hollywood or Westwood. And all we needed was a full tank of gas and $5 cash for a night on the town. The full tank of gas cost us about $5 as well... so we were pretty big spenders and free as birds! Not sure exactly what we always did there, except for cruising the boulevard, taking in first run movies at $1.50 a pop, purchasing the latest album at Tower Records, having dinner at Old World or Ships and of course stalking Barbra Streisand. Thankfully Barbra still exists. lol (But that's another whole story entirely...)


Jannet and Lorna - 1972

The Maggot Book...

Seriously. We had one... and we carried it with us everywhere!... because I mean really, one just never knows when a thing like that might come in handy. It was dedicated to "all those obnoxious and annyoing." And all we ever had to do was to ask them their name...



To date there are just 142 entries. Come on Lorn, we could have done SO much better than that!


A Birthday Card for my 18th

Graduation...
It always happens.


Senior Choir Banquet


Graduation Day

Now keep in mind, she was still two years younger than I was and so still had to remain in High School... while I got to go off to pursue college and New York and all sorts of other things grown up... (which just now made me realize that how all of those years I may have been contributing to the downfall of a minor.. :)

But we still kept in touch!



And sent pictures...



And then finally...

Yay!

But after that, honestly?.. I think that both of our lives just got completely crazy. In fact I don't think either of us could hardly keep track of it at the time! College, jobs, shows... and then a U.S.O. tour (which by the way I cannot believe how her mom ever let her fly off to the Orient without making her bed first... and I only know that because I had to make the dang bed myself. lol) But anyway...

We were able to hook up again and re-acquaint during the spring 0f '75 for a trip up the coast...


I Dare You To Blink


BFF's


Damn Mustang


A Christening

And for yet another trip to Vegas...


What happens in Vegas stays...

And then we spent a summer together in NYC the following year, sharing a one room flat with a gal named Piper Pickeral who really loved protein drinks... long before they were fashionable.


Freedom


Rebels


*sigh*

I would end up staying in New York for the next 10 years but at the end of the summer Lorna packed her bags and bid us goodbye. Please don't misunderstand. It's not that she didn't like New York..

She just liked L.A. better...



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So I guess this turned out to be a little more of a photo journey and a little less content filled than I had planned. But there was just so much to cover. Way too many funny little stories, antecdotes and memories to ever be able to fit in here! So I may just have to write some of those down in their own seperate blog entries in the future. Except that once I do that, we may have to kill you...

Anyway, I'm not sure when it was that we lost the together exactly, but I think it may have had something to do with this...


Haha

But seriously, I'm fairly sure that we both shared in a little bit of the blame there. Although blame is not exactly the word I really mean to use at all. I think it's just that we both grew up, which people sometimes tend to do... except that I still ended up growing up to be a little taller... ; )

I believe that a friend is someone you can always count on, someone who makes you laugh and cries along when you do. Someone who gives you good advice even when that outcome will have nothing to do with them. Someone who you can just sit with without ever wondering what to say and yet who will still forgive you when you end up saying something stupid or at least less than smart.

But a BFF is all of the above plus one who at some point defines you... and not only for a time but, in a way, forever (thus the double F's...). And someone who, if you ever happened to just show up at the other's front door one day, say 40 years later, wouldn't even question it or think it particularly weird... Someone who can attend your first wedding and then completely understand when it doesn't work out without you even having to explain it and vice-versa... Someone who rejoices with you in the birth of your first child and loves all the beautiful pictures you send and then later shares with you all the trials and joys of being a mother to that beautiful baby... and again, vice-versa.



...And also someone who introduces you to AOL (the really big thing back in the 90's!...) and then years later accepts your "friend" request on FaceBook without question, even though you may not exactly fit the demograpghic. lol

And oh yes, someone who you might be able to send a silly blog like this one to and who will just laugh right along with you at all the memories, almost as if it were yesterday.

Anyway, LJP, thanks so much for everything. It was definitely a blast!



And so just how many times did you actually end up appearing on Johnny Carson exactly anyway?...

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Bedtime Rituals...

Being the middle child, I always had to share a room while growing up. Or maybe a better way of putting it is that I always GOT to share a room. First with Carol, who then got her own when Jeannie got too old to sleep in the crib in my parent's room, after which I became "roomies" with Jeannie.

I have two very distinct memories of those two different arrangements, which at the time may have been just silly childhood goings on, but they have somehow stuck in my mind forever.

Carol and I had storytime.

I think it all started on the day when somebody barfed on the patio outside the nurses office right after we got our flu shots at Valinda Elementary. I was in first grade.

I came home and told everyone about it and and how totally gross it was and that how afterwards they'd had to call the Jennifer (janitor) to clean it up... (except that I don't think the word "gross" actually existed at the time...as a matter of fact I don't remember if the word "barf" did either.)

Well anyway, Carol, big sister that she was, roared with laughter...

So then ensued our midnight tales in bed every night after the lights were out. The stories could be as absolutely discusting as we could possibly make them, but the one rule was that they always had to end with the tag line "And the Jennifer cleaned it up." I remember the stories involving every possible type of bodily excretion that we were aware of at the time... And Vic Tanny (the health fitness guru at the time) also found his way into many of our stories so they were never lacking in entire swimming pools overflowing with fat and blubber. Fun times, fun times.

Many years later... I was writing to Carol and we were laughing about all those stories we use to tell each other... when I ended up with the thought of "Wow, little did we know that one day she REALLY would..." hahahaha (some of you will get that...)

We also had our alternate story theme called "The Family Wash"... but I don't remember any of them too distinctly, but I think the stories were pretty similiar just maybe not quite as graphic. At any rate airing our dirty laundry wasn't one of our big specialties at the time...


Me and Lala... a couple years before "the stories"...

Next came little sis Jeannie and the back scratches. We had a nightly routine that we couldn't stray from. This was the order. Short design, long design, scribble, short picture, long picture, scratch. Of course each one had to be erased in between, which basically meant a backrub. I was usually the unselfish older sister always offering to do her back first... so that I could just fall asleep afterwards. Haha

We had a date last year to revisit the backscratches when we found out we were going to have to share a bed at our family reunion in Aspen Grove, but then unfortunately, a room freed up...

We all played Apples to Apples out in the common area instead.


Jeannie and me in the BYU dorms summer of '64 while mom was going to school. I think this may have been where our backscratching tradition began.


The three of us in the backyard on Lawnwood St. in '60.

I sure do love my sisters and all our memories! I think we really need to do another sleepover one of these days.