Trina Machacek: Life through P.J.s

If you have not seen someone in a big box store, and you know the stores I mean, wearing some sort of bedtime attire. Well don’t count yourself out. It will happen. I gosh darn guarantee it.

If you have not gone to a fast food place, doctors office, pharmacy, maybe, oh forgive me, to church or the bank, and not seen someone wearing pajama bottoms with little lambs or flying piggies or wild bright orange, black and yellow flames licking at legs, with a bright red background, from the cuffs leaping up under the oh so lovely wife beater T-shirt or some other shirt of a questionable nature.

Not to worry. Those sights too are in all of our futures. Catching you off guard and quite by surprise. Maybe like me you will want to hide your eyes and shout, “MY EYES! MY EYES!” Was I asleep at the wheel when the memo came out that wearing your sleeping attire to go shopping was discussed, voted on and passed?

No. I didn’t think so. But. Yes, a sleep ala-commando “but.” There are those sights out there. That prompted me to think about all the things, over the years as we go from kid to middle kid to young adult to – well the grown-ups that some of us are now.

Just think what changes have been made in the bedtime clothes we have worn over the years. In the olden days, HAHA, families may have taken kids to the drive-in movie on Friday nights and those kids sometimes wore their P.J.s.

It facilitated getting them to bed easier when the movie ended and the parents had to get the little tykes from the car, sticky with candy and soda, into their beds. Absolutely acceptable. But then to take those same kids the next morning to IHOP in the same P.J.s, not. Then we grow and most kids grow up with full pajamas.

Many families get new matching sets every Christmas and take family pictures to mark the years as they slip by. I know a family that even though they’re all grown-ups, they all get Christmas jammies that are in some sort of animal motif. It’s become a family tradition.

I cannot speak of what boys go through in life through pajamas. I am willing to bet not much change is made from Under-Roo’s to sleeping pants with Budweiser or Family Guy something on the design.

But girls? Well, there certainly is a pajama path we have taken. Growing into girlhood and slumber parties. Oh, you had to have new, pretty and girly things to wear. Shorts and tops were the usual. Something that you didn’t wear at home.

Those P.J.s were saved for what we called, good. Like having clean clothes on Sunday for church. You know. Your “good” pajamas like your “good” clothes.

Next is the frilly, get the see through things from your friends at a bridal shower as marriage is entered into. I won’t go too far into this, except to say. What a waste of money. Those goodies are so pretty and va-va-va-voom sure.

But it’s dark when they are worn, and they are usually not worn long! Then they go into the bottom drawer or the back of the closet. Now we are all on a level field. Men and women. Some wear full pajama sets. Tops and bottoms. Bottoms can be long or short. Tops button up or slip over the head.

Like the Cleavers and Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Some couples share, the man wears the bottoms, and the wife wears the tops. Oh, and a robe. Don’t forget the robe. Again, a new one usually showed up under the Christmas tree for mom or granny.

If not a set of pajamas, T-shirts become bedtime comfy clothes. I wonder if every couple go through the woman too cold, thus flannel. Or too warm so a husband’s T-shirt is sacrificed. Maybe two or more. Yes, seems the men come out on the short end of the pajama stick.

Which is why some sleep in those same shorts or tidy whiteys! Let’s move on. There have been so many changes to what we wear under the sheets. I don’t think I know anyone that sleeps commando. Uh, if I do know you and you do sleep au natural, I really don’t want to know. TMI (too much information) you know.

I have friends that sleep in full pajamas and some that have sweats, and some who think a T-shirt is plenty. It’s a personal choice. One thing is for sure. Nobody should know you by what you wear to bed. Or, for goodness sakes, by what you wear to the grocery store. Especially if you do sleep commando. YIKERS.

Trina Machacek lives in Diamond Valley north of Eureka. Email itybytrina@yahoo.com.