Getting dressed requires so much effort.
Swapping a bed shirt for a real shirt on a Saturday morning is sometimes a proposition that’s better postponed until noontime — or later.
We do the “proper attire” dance all week long — for business meetings, court hearings and parent-teacher conferences. So it’s a treat to lounge around in your PJs on the rare occasions you get to do so — and what you do in your own house on your own time is your business.
Besides, recreational pajama wearing is no big deal. Everybody does it.
The problem is, Saturday mornings in flannel jammies can quickly turn into Saturday afternoons. Or worse, Saturday evenings. You might even dare to run errands like that.
Eventually, friends will try to intervene. They might force you into jeans, which you’ll wear begrudgingly until you’re home alone again, at which time you’ll climb contentedly back into your bathrobe.
Soon, you’ll catch yourself standing in the electronics department of Target wearing Garfield slippers and a polka-dotted nightdress chanting, “I have it all under control. I can stop wearing PJs whenever I want.”
Pajama love is a burden to bear — and society doesn’t always understand.
But at JJ’s Eatery Too in Old Orchard Beach, they’re welcoming pajama wearers. At least for breakfast.
The restaurant recently re-launched its Pajama Breakfast every third Saturday of the month. Customers who unabashedly wear their nightclothes to breakfast will get 15 percent off their meal — in addition to emotional support from the staff, of course.
“Last year, we had a great turnout,” said Kelley Campbell, kitchen manager at JJ’s Eatery Too. Even the staff takes advantage, she said. “Normally, the staff has curlers in their hair and everything.”
Campbell said age isn’t a factor when it comes to public pajama wearing.
“Quite honestly, a lot of families come. It’s easier to wake up with the kids, get in the car and not have the hassle of getting the kids dressed in the morning. Plus, we’re doing the cooking for you.”
But grown-ups like the idea too, she said. “It’s a mix — with adults that wake up in the morning, they don’t have to get dressed, and they get a discount for not getting dressed.”
Campbell said grown men have been known to participate — wearing union suits with trapdoors, no less.
JJ’s serves breakfast from 7 a.m. to noon, during which time the restaurant is a safe haven for nightclothes and the people who can’t get out of them.
Should you end up wearing your pajamas for the remainder of the day, well, that’s a whole other matter.
You just might find yourself on the Maine Pajama Museum Facebook page, where Mainers are encouraged to post photos of people wearing pajamas in public.
And one day, if we’re lucky, society will embrace the footed PJ, the red union suit, the striped nightdress and the flannel pajama bottoms — in public. Maybe even at the office.
No? Too much too soon? Maybe we’ll stick to the grocery store for starters.
Staff Writer Shannon Bryan can be contacted at 791-6333 or at: sbryan@mainetoday.com
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