THE TABLECLOTH: Falling In Love With True Friendships

By Kerry Jones

BJ Slone is always "moving it and doing it" in life.

Her story begins in her adolescent years when she first received her gifts from God in the form of friendships.

Pia, Lester, DeBorah, Vanna, Neetha, Brocklyn, Kodi, Elle, and Pamella Moonface, one by one, came into her life. She cherishes and protects all nine of her girlfriends with every ounce of power in her soul. She proved that no force on earth could come between them.

Though led by their faith in their friendships, the girls' number one rule is to take all their secrets to their graves. Their secrets are only for them and will remain between them.

They share everything in their lives, from first loves, to careers, to firstborns, to forever loves.

These friendships' shared common denominators are spirituality, faith, support, loyalty, love, and secrets. God brought them together. Therefore, they plan on staying together. They cannot and will not live without each other.

BJ Slone could not entertain her girlfriends without first laying down her favorite tablecloth, then creating the most extravagant table setting on top of it. The only thing that rivals her table settings is the best food on the planet, prepared by one of her lifetime best friends, Pia.

Each food stain, wine stain, and tear stain on BJ's tablecloth tells a story of love, laughter, life, success, friendships, and, of course, secrets.

Journey with these girlfriends and feel the supernatural forces that thread their souls together for eternity. And experience the forces that struck their lives and tried to tear them down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886548211

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THE TABLECLOTH

Falling In Love With True Friendships

Kerry Jones

Copyright © 2023 Kerry Jones

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88654-822-8 (hc)

ISBN 979-8-88654-821-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

Introduction

The Birth of a Friendship

When Friendship Meets the Soul

Moving It… Doing It

Girls' Night Out

Friendship Wills

When Life Shakes Your Soul

We Lay Down, Then We Sleep

The Gift that Just Keeps on Giving

About the Author

Acknowledgment

I dedicate this book to all of whom I call my true friends.

Inside an ordinary little box from God lays an extraordinary gift.

I will always remain faithful, trustworthy, thankful, and forever grateful for my gifts of friendship that I received from God.

When my soul leaves this earth and my body turns to dust, I will take all that I have gained from my friendships with me to the grave and beyond, where my friendships will live throughout eternity.

To my BFF Pam Stamps Brown. We both felt blessed to have shared the gift of friendship with each other. Thank you for letting me know that God took over your battle and all your pain had ended. Until we meet again, you will always remain in my thoughts and my heart.

To my mother, my friend who has a backbone that bends but never breaks and a love that will never end. Every time my mom really enjoys something I did for her, I love when she takes my hand and says, You did good, Cookie. I love you, Mommy.

To my sisters Keely and Kimberly and brother Lanny, my friendships that I was born into, I love you.

To my dad, thanks for all the love and wisdom. Until we meet again, I love you.

To my sister Karen, thank you for always looking out for me and being my friend. Until we meet again, I love you.

To my brother B, thank you for always holding my hand through life and protecting me. Until we meet again, I'll keep moving it and doing it.

Introduction

Since I was a little girl, I have always loved receiving gifts—birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, Valentine gifts, or just miscellaneous gifts. Up until the age of twelve, I used to receive five birthday gifts per year—one on my birthday and one on each of my sister's and brother's birthdays. I lived under the notion that I had five birthdays per year. All those beautiful gifts, all year long, a good deal for a little girl while it lasted, huh?

To this day, I still love gifts. Big boxes, little boxes, it doesn't matter, if it's wrapped in shiny paper, ribbon, or just newspaper. I love gifts.

The moment in my life when I began to realize that all gifts don't come in wrapped boxes, purchased at a store, or come from your parents was one of the biggest revelations in my life. The moment I realized that God is the biggest gift giver in my life, everything inside of me changed, my mind, my heart, and my soul.

A doll, games, clothes, or a toy gift will soon perish, break, or get thrown away. But the gifts that God blesses you with are designed to last forever and beyond. However, they will only last, based on how you take care of them. One of the most cherished gifts that I have ever received from God is the blessed gift of pure friendships.

Define Friendship

God's Version

A friend loves at all times.

There are friends who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

—Proverbs 18:24

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.

—Proverbs 17:17

Keep on encouraging one another each day.

—Hebrew 3:13

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.

—Proverbs 27:9

Webster

(Noun) a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

Thesaurus

BFF, acquaintance, ally, buddy, chum, mate, pal, associate, companion, sidekick, comrade, partner, my peeps, ace, ride or die.

Confucius

A friend is someone who thinks you're a good egg, even though you're slightly cracked.

Maya Angelou.

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.

Marlene Dietrich.

It's the friends you can call up at 4:00 a.m. that matter.

Oprah Winfrey

Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.

Unknown

God, make me worthy of my friends.

Elton John, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder recorded this song

That's what friends are for… For the good times and the bad times.

Google

A relationship between two friends.

A true friend is someone who has your back no matter what.

Other languages

French—amitie

Spanish—amistad

Italian—amicizia

German—freundschaft

My version

True friendships are precious little gifts from God.

My God lives in the deepest place in my soul. Very close to Him is where the true friendships gifted to me from Him can be found.

Chapter 1

The Birth of a Friendship

Years after the dust settled, life seemed to keep moving on at the speed of lightning.

I, BJ Slone, was sitting in Mimi's Café, waiting for my girlfriends to show up so I could share with them my exciting, good news.

I know they don't move as fast as they used to move five decades ago, but I always hate when they are not on time. I'd wait for the girls at my usual table with my usual tablecloth, personalized silverware, an almond croissant, and a wine spritzer disguised as a glass of ginger ale.

Pia has always prepared special croissants for me, and now her daughter Whitney has taken over the task. She overstuffs them with homemade almond paste, then covers them in almond butter. The smell of them baking in the oven travels all through the café and seeps out the front door and halfway down the block.

I always love when the girls and I get together and share good news about our lives to one another. Usually, following the news always comes a dinner celebration. No matter how big or how small the news is, we have a party for every occasion.

On this day, I was feeling a little nostalgic. As I sat and stared out the window, suddenly, my heart started to fill up with many memories of my girlfriends, or, as I better describe them, my precious gifts from God. When I think about all we had been through in our lives, I can only laugh to myself. These women were the fantastic nine friendships of my life. Our common denominator that we all share is our spiritual beliefs. God brought us together, and God will keep us together, and we will take all our secrets to our graves.

Business was booming at Mimi's Café. Pia was the best cook in town. She taught her daughter Whitney everything she learned from her mother Mimi, who learned from her mother Lilly. Four generations of love and great-cooking women.

Pia's food had been featured in several magazines for being the best in the city. As well, the café had been the backdrop for three model shoots in magazines and a movie scene. It is truly the place to go, to see, to be seen, and to eat. I remember how proud Pia was of herself when she opened Mimi's Café. It truly was her life's passion and dream. She named it after her mother's nickname Mimi. In the beginning, all the girls suggested that it should be named Foxy Lady, which would better describe Pia's mom, or Red Roses, which would better describe Pia and her love for red and roses.

Mimi was a beautiful model in her earlier years, and she never lost a beat. She wore the best of clothes and beautiful jewelry and was a social butterfly of the town. This lady was always finished from her hair to her polished toes.

Pia made the café feel as if you were at home, kicking it with people you really love and like. That is one of the greatest passions of her life—to make people enjoy her food and themselves in her place. Pia always said, That the way to anyone's heart is through their stomach, especially a man's stomach and specifically her man. The café was filled with all the original customers that have been patronizing the place from the opening day. It was also great to see new customers come in and enjoy themselves.

A few years ago, Pia opened a new café on the second floor in the building named, The Tech Hall. It targeted the next generation, and it was thriving just as well as Mimi's café.

Whitney remained working in the café section where she grew up helping Pia and her grandmother. Tiffanie, Pia's niece, runs the Tech Hall section. Pia's other two nieces, Kamela and Jazzy, work both cafés. Otha, Pia's husband, helps wherever he is needed. But he mostly stays behind the scenes and does all the administrative work.

It was after-school hours now, and Whitney's z-generation crowd started flooding into The Tech Hall to congregate, text, email, selfie, Instagram, Zoom, Facebook, TikTok, FaceTime, listen to music, play the game machines, make human contact with each other, have a little something to eat and drink, and enjoy their lives until they return to school the next day. Every now and then, the students would have a dance off, which they would go totally wild.

The Tech Hall was extremely crowded on this day. A couple of the regular college students couldn't find a seat or even a place to stand. Whitney had them follow her toward my table.

Whitney asked, Good day, Auntie, can you please do a favor for me and allow a few of my customers to sit at your table temporarily? Or at least until something opens up in the Tech Hall and/or until the rest of my aunties get here to join you?

I said, Anything for you, my dear.

Whitney thanked me and signaled them to be seated.

I welcomed them to my table and told them to grab some chairs and make themselves comfortable. They all began pulling up chairs from other tables to join me at mine. They were all freshmen college students. I asked for their names, and their replies were I am Tyler, I'm Paris, I'm Christian, and I'm Jaden.

Tyler said, We thank you for letting us temporarily crash at your table.

I replied, You are all so very welcomed.

Tyler asked, What is your name, and why does your table have the only tablecloth on it in the room?

My name is BJ Slone, and as for the tablecloth, well, it's just my thing. I am expecting some very special friends to join me for a little celebration. I love to entertain, and to me, entertaining always starts with good food, fun friends, and a beautiful tablecloth. Now if all of you are comfortable, please allow me to treat you to lunch.

I signaled for Tiffanie, and she came right over to take everyone's lunch orders. Tyler and Paris appeared to be inquisitive about me, more so than the rest of their friends. When Tyler ordered the favored dish of my friend Neetha, which was a salmon sandwich with Pia's spicy homemade dressing, my head and heart became flooded with early memories of my girlfriends when we were all at that age.

I advised Tiffanie to ask Whitney to make it special like Pia would make it for Neetha.

Tiffanie said, Coming right up, Auntie!

Tyler responded, Thank you, Auntie. That was very nice of you.

I just smiled and told them to enjoy it.

I mentioned to Tyler about her menu choice, which was one of my best friend's favorite dishes in the world.

Tyler began to inquire about who Neetha was to me, then Paris chimed in with their hungry little questions about my friend.

I began by telling them that I couldn't tell them about one girlfriend without telling them about them all.

It was Pia, Vanna, Lester, Brocklyn, Neetha, DeBorah, Kodi, Elle, Pamella Moonface, and me, BJ Slone. Yes, there are ten of us, and these are the girlfriends of my life. These are my precious gifts from God who I treasure and trust with my life. I can't imagine what my life would be like without the love, support, fun, and adventures of my girlfriends.

Tyler asked me, How could you have so many best friends? You trusted and told all of those girls your secrets?

I replied, "My dear, there were just the right amount of us. You see, every secret may not be for every friend you have, but in my case, all our secrets were for every one of us.

"There was always enough of us for our own party, each time we got together. We were very big on birthdays, weddings, holidays, births, divorces, christenings, achievements, and every other occasion in our lives. And even if no one else showed up at our party, we always had each other. A few other reasons for all of us is that if one of us didn't have a date, we would fill in. You see, none of us ever had to go to the opera, theater, dinner, parties, movies, or charity events alone. We had each other until a boyfriend came along. We were never alone or lonely. We always had each other. Pia would say that later in our lives, when we started dropping off like flies or some of us had to leave the nest for love or work, there would always be a couple of us left behind to remain together.

Do you know what Y-O-G-O-L stands for?

Tyler said, No, what does it mean?

I told them, in the words of my friend Pia, It means, you only get one life.

Now my advice and/or prayer to you guys is, if you only have the one life, why not live it to the hilt with true friends? Always know that if you have true friendships, and I'm talking about the kind that are gifted to you from God, there must lay true love, honesty, and kindness inside your hearts and souls that you must be able to share with the world.

Even though we all have very different opinions, different styles, different looks, and different tastes in our men, the common denominator that we all share is our faith in God. The one and only thing we all agreed upon without discussion was that we follow God's plan. So out of our faith grew all the respect, trust, faithfulness, supportiveness, and love that we needed to remain friends.

I can shout it from the rooftop that I believe in my soul that true friendships are precious little gifts from God, chosen, created, and designed just for you to fuel your heart, enrich your soul, and add a whole lot of laughter and fun to your life.

My appreciation for God's gift of friendship began very early in my life. It started with the very first gift of friendship that I received from God, which was Pia. With that gift, I also received a list of instructions. God promised me He would always guide me along my friendship journey as long as I follow His instructions. God will help you care for your gifts. His top list of instructions read like this:

You must take all your friend's secrets to the grave and beyond.

You are to be honest and up-front with your friends.

You are to always be trustworthy and committed to your friends.

You are to answer the phone in the wee hours of the night for your friend.

You are to be totally dependable with your friends.

You are to care for your friends.

You are to help your friends every time they need it. Remember to help first, then ask questions later.

You are to be the eyes for your friends when they are unable to see.

You are to understand and totally support your friends whether they are right or wrong.

You are to be very generous to your friends.

You are to protect your friends.

You must forgive your friends.

You are to laugh and have fun with your friends.

You are to unconditionally love your friends at all times.

My friend Pia's number one rule that she swears came from God as well has always been "Don't mess around with my man.

It was easy enough because it came from God. That alone makes it all easy and possible.

My mind began traveling way back to what seemed like the beginning of time. But it was the beginning of me learning the meaning of true friendship.

*****

BJ Slone, always moving it and doing it. If you ask her what she came into this world to do, her reply would be Usually what a person does and what they came to this world to do are two different paths. I feel that I am doing what God created me to do. In the words of the novelist Emile Zola, ‘I am here to live out loud.'

BJ loves life. She has a passion for it and everything it has to offer under the watchful eye of God. She gets a rush when she feels she's at the top of her game. She gets that feeling when her soul is free, open, creative, wild, and filled up. She feels this way every day of her life. It's like a supernatural force that is unexplainable that engulfs her mind, body, and soul. It's like a spirit with a set of wings that enables her to take off and fly every day.

She loves being happy all the time, and all the time she wants to be happy. Her aunt Marilyn once told her to always remember to stop and smell the roses. BJ has made it a way of life to always stop and smell every single rose that she comes across in her pathway. She is also a very spiritual person; she is always thankful to her God, and she loves, cherishes, and feels so blessed for each of her gifts she calls friendships. Her friends are her life, and she couldn't or wouldn't want to live without them.

She is so filled with burning passion that her heart pumps it out and it runs through her veins. It literally burns in her soul until it ignites into flames throughout her whole body if she doesn't direct it toward a project, which is why BJ is always so busy all the time.

She tries everything at least once, which is the only way she will know if she likes it. But when she discovers something that she likes, she will develop a deep uncontrollable passion for it and pour her heart and soul into it. If BJ didn't feel any passion toward whatever she was doing, she would do it half ass or not stick to it at all. It was all about the passion with her.

One of BJ's greatest passions was to see the whole wide world. She didn't know how she was ever going to do it, but she knew she was going to do it. She needed to get to know every race, creed, color, and religious persuasion in the world. When she was a little girl, her father once told her that in order to really get to know someone, you should get to know their cultural background. It will give you a much better understanding of people.

BJ started her engine on that day and prepared herself for takeoff at any given moment in her life.

BJ has a few other passions other than her girlfriends such as traveling, writing, her church, decorating, fashion, and a little quirky one, which would be table setting.

BJ adored setting a beautiful table, and it always started with a beautiful lace tablecloth and a theme. She could not eat off a table if it didn't have a tablecloth on it. Even when she eats at