Princeton Motor Lodge, 1844 North Main Street, Illinois State Route 26, Princeton, Illinois. Note the adjacent Zephyr gas station. Backbone Road is the cross street. The Motor Lodge features a cocktail lounge, dining room, and coffee shop. View looks south-southwest. It was torn down between 2009 and 2013, and today is a vacant lot.

I found this photo during book research, and it reminded me of my last pillow-fight and bed-bouncing. It was Friday night, July 16, 1976 at the Princeton Motor Lodge, second floor, two rooms left of the stairs (south).

I remember it clearly, I have a highly organized autobiographical memory.

I drove up from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois with a sorority passenger, a dear friend of mine and friend of the other coed who was staying temporarily in Princeton. I was delivering her as a birthday surprise.

We had to delay our appearance a bit, so we stopped to check me into the motel, a few blocks from the birthday party.

Long story short, I’d been a bit glum. So, my sorority friend —a classic Disney girl and singer, dancer, actor, choreographer, and counselor— spontaneously leapt onto my motel bed to test its spring-ability. It passed with flying colors! My laughter was rewarded with the follow-up Pillow Test, which was really a classic, laughing pillow-fight. I was glum no more.

She was talented, adorable, and wise beyond her years in the ways of the heart. A treasured friend. Oh, to be young again.

There were no arrests.