The Tale of Two Jeffs

When I think about it, I really fell in love with my husband Jeff Jennings after meeting one of his best friends, another fellow named Jeff. My mother had always warned me to take stock of a potential boyfriend only after meeting his friends. “You are known by the company you keep,” she advised. My grandmother was right in there adding, “If this new man of yours surrounds himself with bad apples, chances are he’ll be rotten to the core.”
So, when Jeff Jennings wrangled me into an after work drink with his friend Jeff Barnhill, I was eager to start my detective dating work. First things first, in full disclosure, I had not exactly told Jeff Jennings that I was only 18 or better yet, of legal drinking age which in those days was 19.
We were to meet up with his college buddy in a notorious Whiskey Row bar which I did not know how to get out of unless I revealed my true age. Also, I figured these recent college graduates were now mature men of 23 so how crazy could a sip of beer in one cowboy bar get?
Jeff Jennings was a new trainee at a Prescott local bank. Jeff Barnhill was shipping off to Basic Training Camp and in town for a last visit before starting his military career. Both were ramrod straight and upstanding. But, I think they knew their lives were about to change and so maybe there was a tendency to throw caution to the wind one last time.
As I navigated past a set of wooden bar doors, desperately trying to look like I fit in, Jeff Jennings steered me towards a dark booth where his friend Jeff Barnhill was already seated. I settled into a sticky bench seat just across a trio belting out cowboy ballads. A rough looking barmaid with a cloud of red hair approached our table and immediately carded Jeff Jennings. By this time he had been of legal drinking age for about 5 years. After perusing his driver’s license she looked over at me and with her gravely voice scoffed, “Don’t worry darlin’ I can tell this isn’t your first rodeo.”
Needless to say, a giant whoosh of relief washed over me and I settled down for an evening of revelation. I was in my first bar, having my first beer with two recent college grads who were well… men. I figured it was going to be a night of firsts. I was either going to be arrested, determine that Jeff Jennings was indeed my soul mate or evaluate his unworthiness based on his friend’s behavior.
Jeff Barnhill perused me up and down. His bright blue eyes were full of mischief and equally evaluative. “So, you’re from SNOTTSdale I hear.” He seemed to launch into a ribald story about some other Scottsdale girls who he had known and dared me to break the mold. I was so stressed out by sitting in a bar with two men and being underage that I could hardly register his quick repartee.
Loud cowboy music was wailing on about “women doing men wrong” and my Calvin Kleins were wicking up the cigarette smoke each time I crossed my legs. I just knew that a meaty Sheriff’s hand was going to descend on the back of my neck and haul me off to jail. I would become a Deb in Jail just like the Saturday Night Live parody. The DFA would remove me from their 1979 Debut list!
“At one point, I remember Jeff Barnhill shouting across the table with a commanding inquiry, “Hey Jennings, how old is this girl?” With an obtuse shrug of his shoulder, my Jeff glanced my way and confessed he had no idea. We were neighbors in the same old apartment building and had just met. I think at that point he was more interested in my cooking and getting free hot meals than anything else. It never occurred to him that I wasn’t of legal drinking age.
The other Jeff knew there was something amiss and pressed me further. I ordered a foul tasting beer, and sat there like a mute, playing out in my mind how I was going to call my father back home in the Valley to come bail me out of the Prescott Territorial Jail.
This was undoubtedly going to be the hardest conversation that I would ever have with my father, so it was hard for me to find the right words to use. There was a part of me that thought contacting an online bail bonds service would be easier, as they see things like this all the time so they’re used to people finding themselves in this situation and needing their help. But this was all new to my father though, and I was really finding it hard to come to terms with what I would eventually say when making the phone call.
When the evening mercifully ended, I confessed to graduating from Scottsdale High just about three months earlier. Both Jeffs looked horrified and I imagine looked around for that same long arm of justice to descend upon them. Jeff Jennings bundled me up and escorted me back home in a jiffy.
We would laugh about that time over the next three decades. Jeff Barnhill would navigate a long, successful career in the US Military and Jeff Jennings would navigate life with me. This year, the two Jeffs have reunited and now Jeff Barnhill has brought his wonderful wife Kim into the fray. I just adored her the moment we met.
Mother was right, you are known by the company you keep and I am grateful that this company has come back our party.
From the Heart…