Well, my birthday party this year was awesome. And after the party I now have more new friends and a new best friend. I think that this is the time in my life when I discovered what a best friend is and what an inseparable bond feels like. In life, you only get so many chances to form best friend bonds because they are rare and special.
A few days after the party my mom told me that my new best friend’s dad was planning to take his boys to lunch before the new school year started and that my new best friend wanted to invite me. His mom and dad asked if I had any nice clothes that I could wear for this special lunch. I remember my mom telling them that she had not gone out to buy me clothes for the new school year. And she told them that she didn’t really know what clothes to buy since Arizona is very different than Western North Carolina. She was also busy getting me into a school.
I also think that we didn’t have much money when looking back at this time in my life, but this would not be said out loud. I think she was trying to start a new life away from where we had just come from because we didn’t bring much with us. And when we arrived at our new apartment house, which I learned is simply called an apartment, she was talking to her boyfriend about what we needed that we didn’t have.
So, my new best friend said I could wear some of his clothes since we were pretty much the same size. We then went to my room to play with some of the new toys I got at my birthday party.
His parents talked with my mom in the living room for a bit and then called for me and my new best friend to come out to them. My mom agreed to let them take me shopping for some school clothes, but just enough to get me started. She had that Western North Carolina sternness about what was allowed while being completely considerate and polite at the same time. Everyone agreed.
So, the next day we went shopping with my new best friend, his mom and dad, and my mom. I think she wanted to make sure I didn’t go nuts at the store. And which store? We didn’t know where we were going. We just got into their car and off we went.
To me, Phoenix was a big city. And where we went to go shopping there were many stores. The store we went to was large and had many areas where clothes were on shelves and hanging on racks in many parts of the store. It even had shoes. Walking through the store was like thumbing through all of the pages of the Sears Christmas Catalog in real life to pick out what I wanted Santa to bring me.
The first thing my best friend’s mom suggested we get were trousers. Well, that is what they called them. I just called them pants. And then some shirts would be next to go with the trousers. His parents really were very helpful, and my new best friend was getting some clothes too. We were having so much fun trying on the clothes and showing everyone how they looked and fit. I don’t really remember doing this in our small town in North Carolina. I do remember shopping at several stores downtown on Main Street in Mount Airy with my mom.
My mom got me some socks, T-shirts and some underwear. And I got a new pair of shoes. I think my mom was a bit surprised with how I looked in my new clothes. I no longer looked like a scruffy young boy from Western North Carolina. I would say that I looked pretty good and modern. I am a city boy now. I was now ready to go to this special boy’s lunch.
I didn’t know where we were going for lunch, but I had to look clean and groomed. I wondered why! My new best friend and I, his brother and his friend, and his dad got into the car and off went. We were going to lunch in downtown Phoenix at a very special place. When we arrived at the building where the restaurant was, we had to take an elevator up to the floor where it was located. This might have been the first time I was in an elevator. We got into the elevator and the doors closed. I felt the elevator begin to move and I knew we were going up. The elevator door opened, and we were there.
I remember that there were not a lot of people there that I could see. We were then greeted and escorted to a table. As we were walking to our table my new best friend’s dad was greeted by many of the people already sitting at their tables, and all the ladies were dressed in rabbit costumes. I asked why the ladies were dressed like rabbits. Well, I was quickly corrected. My best friend’s brother said, “They are Bunny’s”. I guess he had been there before.
We sat down at our table and a Bunny came to the table and said hello to my best friend’s dad. She asked what we would like to eat and drink. He told her and she disappeared. We did get to drink some soda in nice glasses with ice. And the napkins were made with the same cloth that the table was covered with. A little later the Bunny came back with another Bunny who brought the food. We finished lunch with some ice cream treats. My best friend’s dad was very busy with other dads talking throughout our lunch. This was a fun lunch. And I worked very hard to keep my new clothes clean.
When we got back home, we went swimming to finish the day off. I was getting good with my paddling and my ability to float while paddling. My best friend wanted me to try something new with my arms and legs. I was a bit scared, but I now trusted him not to let anything bad happen to me. We had a special bond now; we were like brothers of the same age.
Later, when I was a few years older and we lived in a new city, my mom told me that I had actually gone to lunch that day at the Phoenix Playboy Club. While I don’t think she approved of it even though she said it was ok for me to go since this was a boy’s family event, I do think she appreciated the importance of me being exposed to new experiences that were well separated from that of the Western North Carolina southern culture that could have influenced me to be much less informed about other cultures and experiences. Maybe even overtly judgmental.
I would say that this lunch continued my discovery of new things, this time with my mom’s approval. Maybe she was beginning to let me grow more independently and freely with an outlook that would better inform my life. No such thing as helicopter parenting in this age of discovery. And while this sounds like a positive approach to raising a child, there is a flip side, and this side would show up later. And I would be the one paying that price.
Until then, let’s go explore the now…
“Follow my story for new vignettes”