Ode to Pajamas

When I was a kid growing up in West Tennessee, I can distinctly remember when during car rides I would fall asleep, only to be woken gently by my parents when we reached the house. Now, this was when I was very small but I was only woken long enough to be gotten out of the car - the rest was up to my parents. I would have my cheek pressed to their shoulder, arms and legs limp, eyes shut as they would carry me through the kitchen to the room that adjoined theirs. There they would place me in bed and then begin to undress. When you're a child, there are lot fewer clothes to discard. At least, that's what it seemed like to me. There were the velcro shoes - no problem. The tiny socks, the shirt over the head - no bra yet, so they don't have to finagle with that - and then most of the time the pants had some sort of elastic in them. I was usually at least semi-conscious whenever the undressing began because I was aware of arms and legs being lifted, hands gently tugging clothing off and then gently tugging clothing back on. Now, when I was a kid, I have to assume I just slept in an old t-shirt or something because I can't remember but that seems the most accurate possibility.

As I got older, I was forced to wake whenever we reached the house and left to undress myself and redress myself in the privacy of my room. This continues on until this day but I can't help but want those easy days of childhood where someone would take care of you when you were sick or tired, helping you in and out of clothes. It's kind of not fair - I mean, as an adult, you have even more things to wrestle with. I suppose this is why we pair off as often as we do, it's nice to have someone help you with a coat on or off, to help you push your foot into shoes when you're too lazy to untie them and to help pull them off when you can't be bothered to do it yourself. You in turn do it for them too (or at least I hope you do). It all harkens back to childhood when we had someone taking care of us - we don't necessarily want that dependence back but we don't want to be left to deal with everything ourselves.

As a teenager, when we moved to Nashville, I know that I slept in hand-me-downs. T-shirts that were picked up as promotional things, some came from my brother when he out grew them, some from my father when he wore them out, occasionally I was able to buy a pair of pajama pants or two, usually shorts because I didn't like the pants that were available for purchase. It wasn't until I moved into the house that I currently reside at with my parents that I went back to something I'm sure I never had. I can remember dressing gowns, I can remember t-shirts and pajama pants but I can't recall ever having a set of pajamas. Like button down shirt, drawstring pants pajamas. The first pair I recieved were a rather cheery yellow with bright blue clocks on it - digital clocks, analog clocks, and sounds like 'beep beep' filled the yellow space at regular intervals.

Normally, I never wore top and bottom together and I think that's why I insist on wearing the top and bottom together now with the two sets of pajamas that I acquired this last month. Because I mostly wore the bottoms, the bottoms began to fade while the top remained that very bright, cheery yellow. So whenever I did wear the two together, the top looked brand new while the bottoms looked dingy and faded because of repetitive use. Most of the time I wore them both at the same time when I was sick or feeling vulnerable, covered from head to foot. I can remember a few times wearing them for snow days because let's face it, it's warmer and when it's cold outside, you just want to wear cuddly things. Pajamas are rather cuddly by nature, even if they don't seem 'sexy'. They're practical, thus their appeal.

After having to get rid of the first pair of pajamas I can recollect having ever worn, it didn't hit me until this past winter what I was missing. Sure, the fact that Target started carrying some really cute patterns for the pajamas certainly helped but when it came down to it, what I was missing was that cuddly set of pajamas that you can lounge around in and drink hot coco or knit or read a book - that set that it doesn't matter if you're sick or not, they just automatically make you feel better. To me, they make me feel like I'm a little kid again and I've just come fresh from a bath and nothing is more appealing then climbing into a set of nice pajamas to keep in that warmth and to envelop you in softness. Mmmmm... Pajamas, how I love thee...