The first year I met Tina, my Yaya, we went on an adventure and met, and fell in love, with these two crazy ladies, Linda and Paula. They were hysterical and a little strange. But in a really good way because we both love strange people.
They owned a little shop called "The Space" and it had everything you didn't know you wanted, and were positive you never needed, until the moment you walked in there. It was like you were under a spell and suddenly everything you could possibly imagine was right at your fingertips.
Because Tina and I loved them so we visited often, and got to know them really well. It's been awhile since we were there but I often wonder how they are doing and if their little shop is still around.
Linda was in her early 50's. Childless. Not by choice we found out but by circumstance as she was never able to have children. She had long grey curly hair that she always referred to it as her "frizz". She wore linen pants, and long tunics, and always had really interesting malas around her neck and big crystal rings on each finger. My inner style guru was both appalled, fascinated, and in love at the same time. It was all very confusing lol.
Martin - Marty - Goldstein was Linda's husband. They met in college - and if you asked him how long they had been married he could, and did, quote it to the day. "We have been married 30 years and 64 days". It was adorable.
If you asked Linda she would say "since the beginning of time" and then roll her eyes. But you knew she was just teasing him.
Marty was a physics professor at the university. Very stoic. Very sensible. Yet together they were perfect.
He was the practical to her magical, the rational to her irrational, the logic to her illogical, and the grounding to her magical energy. They had that easy kind of love that is so refreshing to be around. And the way he looked at her made us melt.
On the weekends he would come visit the shop and bring their dog Plato. It was Marty who named the dog because he liked to study philosophy in his spare time. As a hobby. He was such an interesting fella.
They also had a big old tomcat named Frampton (named by Linda because she said she was a child of the 70's) and a rescue rabbit named Winston, because he looked like Winston Churchill. Ironically Winston was also the name of Marty's brother in law, who was married to his younger brother Danny.
There were Jewish but non practicing, although Marty still went to synagogue occasionally. Mostly when his mother Ruth was in town. Danny was a plastic surgeon and Winston taught yoga and took Danny's name when they married. Something Ruth never fails to mention to Linda every time she visits because Linda refused to take Goldstein as her last name, she kept her maiden name although she never told us what it was.
Linda never accompanied them because she said her days of organized religion were long past, and these days when asked she often referred to herself as a witch. They both did actually, Paula too. They would look at each other and laugh and mutter "witch" under their breath and then both of them would crack up.
It was so casual, and odd, and hilarious at the same time. It always made us think of the two crazy aunts in Practical Magic and you know Tina and I LOVED that because at that time we had a group called The Coven of the Esoteric Muse and we were all about witchiness and we were witch adjacent.
Paula was so different from Linda. She was a little younger, early to mid 40's, and looked like a Stepford wife. Casual twin sets, capris, and a chin length blond bob that was so straight it could cut cheese.
Hanging out at the shop one day, Tina asked them how they met and became such close friends. Before Linda bought the shop she was a social worker who worked with troubled teens, and she met Paula when Paula, and her then husband Robert Carlisle Jackson III, were having problems with their daughter Jennifer Elizabeth Jackson - JJ for short. Elizabeth for Liz Taylor of course.
Paula liked to say that Robert never really had trouble with anything because he never really paid any attention to her or JJ so saying "they" had trouble with JJ was a courtesy. He really didn't care or notice.
When Paula left Robert she and JJ ended up staying with Linda and Marty for a bit. Much to Marty's chagrin because he is not down with changes to his routine.
Paula had never worked before Linda made her a partner at The Space. She had a college degree but had been dating Robert since her freshman year and college was really only because it was what someone in her social circle did. She called herself the poster child for WASP and said that her entire life she did was was expected of her.
Now being single, and away from the control and expectations of Robert, and the place they held in upper class society, she had never felt so free. She was even dating and they used to tell us hilarious stories that I couldn't relate to then, but man oh man can I relate now.
JJ turned out fine and is a hairdresser and makeup artist in NY. Living a great life of love, and travel, and adventure, but she still comes home a few times a year to visit her mom and her Aunt Linda.
For some reason her many tattoos and blue hair didn't bother Marty but had it been anyone else he would have been offended. He was always going on about the kids at the university and their weird hair and piercings. He grew to love JJ as she grew from wild teen to interesting young woman and in his eyes she is the daughter he never had. It's mutual because she also thinks the world of Marty and has no contact with her dad.
Because life can be a shit show, Tina and I stopped going there to see them. Other things got in the way and as I was walking around aimlessly today on the first sunny day of the year I got to thinking about them.
I texted Tina and said we need to revisit Linda and Paula next time we hook up. I haven't heard back from her yet but we had so much fun with them and loved them so, that it's embarrassing we forgot about them for a time.
I wanted to introduce them to you because at one time these ladies meant everything. There are a million more stories I can tell you about our adventures with them but I will leave it here for now. I hope you found them as fascinating as we did.
Bt the way, Linda and Paula are totally fictional and Tina and I made them up.
We used to sit on Skype for hours drinking wine and telling a million stories about these two magical ladies as if they were true and happening in real time. Linda and Paula, the best and worst parts of ourselves and an amalgamation of us, and everyone we loved.
I miss those nights of creativity and hilarity that were so special because it was all about imagination, friendship and zero agenda. We even have a secret Pinterest board of what "The Space" looks like and a board dedicated to what would be sold there. We were ALL IN with Linda and Paula.
Sometime between then, and now, I lost that part of myself. That random nothingness that in the end means everything. I am glad I went on this little trip down memory lane and maybe, just maybe, Tina and I can start telling these stories again. At least to each other and maybe to the world one day.
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This is a midnight musings letter I wrote a few years ago and I woke up this morning after a shitty sleep thinking about Linda + Paula and the cast of characters we created. I am heading out this afternoon to the Raven’s Veil which is my local witchy shop that is just down the street. I messaged my yaya and said we need more of this. Making up stories for no reason.
Day 8 of Effy’s September blogalong.
