{"id":502,"date":"2009-08-12T09:37:53","date_gmt":"2009-08-12T13:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gloriacrist.com\/blog\/?p=502"},"modified":"2009-08-12T09:37:53","modified_gmt":"2009-08-12T13:37:53","slug":"back-back-back-in-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gloriacrist.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/back-back-back-in-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Back, Back, Back in Time."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Nothing like a\u00a0“save the date” notice for\u00a0a 25th college reunion to set a gal reeling into the abyss of the past.\u00a0 April 2010.\u00a0 Three\u00a0days of reuniting the class of\u00a01985.\u00a0I am still reeling.\u00a0 I did not anticipate the shock this gentle reminder would bring.\u00a0Not to begin with the beguine-but where did the time go?\u00a0 That August day, 1981.<\/p>\n

I will admit, I first\u00a0landed in the mind set of:\u00a0 “Well now what?”\u00a0 I mean, I don’t exactly\u00a0have the traditional resume of one who graduated from a private, highly competitive, liberal arts college for women.\u00a0 In fact, I seem to recall a few near misses in the four years I attended and graduated from\u00a0said private, highly competitive liberal arts college for women.\u00a0 I will also admit, my four years of surviving ( and singing about)\u00a0the virgin trees that grew ever tall on campus, helped bend and shape the person I am today.\u00a0 No wait, the woman I am today.\u00a0 I had some of the best forward thinking\u00a0professors and mentors- each one giving me a set of tools uniquely different-each giving me permission to think outside the box.\u00a0\u00a0This very small,\u00a0southern prestigious college\u00a0helped me create interesting ways to learn and study. So what if I was not\u00a0the basic blue (blood)\u00a0print.\u00a0 I belonged.\u00a0 I also met some of the most interesting women from all over the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then I really starting thinking…….<\/p>\n

I remember the day I left for college.\u00a0 It was a sweltering mid August\u00a0day in southeastern North Carolina. \u00a0 I remember what I\u00a0was\u00a0wearing.\u00a0( purple\u00a0Izodshirt and aqua walking shorts with color\u00a0coordinated\u00a0 plaid fabric belt- my Bass loafers, no socks-my\u00a0preppy rebel look) I\u00a0remember waving good-bye to my parents\u00a0( I drove myself to college),I remember not crying until I\u00a0pulled out of the driveway and then suddenly, with\u00a0window down and Datsun filled to the gills,\u00a0I was on I-40 bound for four years of what I was not sure, but I was determined I was going to make it. I remember how I felt when I finally arrived, hot and sweaty, my hair all frizzy and big\u00a0a result of\u00a0my AC\u00a0going out\u00a0somewhere outside of Hillsboro. I\u00a0drove down the slight slope of the cobblestone hill and parked in front of my dorm. There were parents everywhere,girls everywhere, representatives from the\u00a0college everywhere.\u00a0 It was a flurry of conservative, very well dressed and fully prepared people.\u00a0 One thing should be pointed out about this college:\u00a0 It had lineage.\u00a0 Mothers of mothers of mothers had\u00a0previously\u00a0attended and became part of the history, the frameworks and traditions.\u00a0 This school was seeped in tradition.\u00a0 Many girls attending this college were arriving fresh from prep school-another stop along the way to\u00a0a plan laid out long ago-a plan that some of these gals\u00a0were expected to follow. Virgin\u00a0trees and tradition seeping all over the place.\u00a0Never mind arrival, first day\u00a0jitters, I had a sinking feeling I was way out of place.\u00a0 My preppy rebel outfit I had chosen so carefully stuck out like a sore thumb.\u00a0Don’t get me started on my hair.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Welcome to “Sailing Away With Possibilities” the theme for all incoming freshmen.\u00a0 I found my room, second floor, halfway down,the door marked with two names\u00a0in color contrasting sails.\u00a0 I should have known right then and there, rough waters would be approaching. I was not up on nautical terms, and could not tie knot one-other than the obvious mistake when making a bow.\u00a0 The dorm “mum”, Mrs. B- a sweet lady from England knocked,introduced herself and said my “mate” would be arriving a bit later in the day-she had been delayed.\u00a0I was given permission to unpack and select my bed, my side of the room and closet.\u00a0 A couple of hours later I was moved in, all my things neatly put away, bed made, pictures hung on my side and my desk organized and ready.\u00a0 I checked the schedule of events\u00a0and had hours until the formal freshmen class meet and greet-“please dress accordingly”. I decided to walk around and check out the\u00a0other sails-listing names and locations of incoming freshmen, made a few introductions and walked around campus-watching other arrivals and tearful good byes.<\/p>\n

An hour of so later I headed back,happy with my accomplishments so far and proud of my room-already set with my eclectic collection of essentials.\u00a0 No color coordinated anything for me-but more of a mish-mash of odds and ends, photos, bulletin boards still fresh with high school memories, my journals and all the other college\u00a0essentials.\u00a0 Back then, computers were not a requirement-we did things the old fashioned way-wrote it all down.There were no cell phones.\u00a0 There was one phone- at the end of the hallway.\u00a0 It was a rotary dial. Oh and did I mention, this was not a coed campus.\u00a0\u00a0I sat on my bed-and waited, listening to all the other sounds in the hall.<\/p>\n

And then-there they were. The mother-daughter duo from hell. Mother in Lily Pulitzer and pearls, tight-jawed and wiry.\u00a0\u00a0Daughter in matching Lily Pulitzer\u00a0with the same\u00a0pissy look on her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Hi!”, I said, \u00a0“I’m Gloria!”.\u00a0They both looked horrified to see me and\u00a0checked the sail on the door for clarification.\u00a0Curt but polite introductions followed,\u00a0with a few “who do you knows?’-which, of course, I did not. \u00a0Mother signaled for father, step father, daughter noted,\u00a0to bring in the bags, daughter turned and walked out of the room.\u00a0 We were off to a great start.\u00a0 Color coordinated monogrammed bags were being brought in two at a time, window treatments, bedding, rugs, all Laura Ashley, very tasteful, not to froo froo.<\/p>\n

Wait, is that a mini fridge?\u00a0 And a window fan?<\/p>\n

It all\u00a0screamed old money and social registry ( which at the time,\u00a0I had no idea what that meant-except it seemed to be a common theme)\u00a0I excused myself saying\u00a0something about checking in with my parents. Mother said nothing- she was already focused on getting the room decorated. Daughter was in the hallway excited to see some girls she knew from prep school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sounds of other roommates getting to know one another and I am stuck with Ice Queen and\u00a0the pissy\u00a0princess.\u00a0Certainly, I would be learning something from this, right?\u00a0 In no time, the dorm room was complete and we were allowed back in-the Ice Queen had completed her work-and my roommates side of the room was immaculate and detailed ( the Ice Queen was goooooooood).\u00a0 In fact, if memory serves me, some of my items were moved to the side-let there be no mistake. Ice queen and her silent second\u00a0husband were gone-back to the land of who you know.\u00a0 I was stuck with a girl who seemed to complain about everything and clearly was not interested in learning anything about me whatsoever.\u00a0 We were going to play the myside\/yourside game.<\/p>\n

Fine.<\/p>\n

Within a\u00a0month\u00a0the pissyprincess had moved on to another dorm. “To be closer to the girls she went to prep school with.”\u00a0 The Ice Queen sent in a formal request so her daughter could be with\u00a0her own kind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh the horror\u00a0the princess\u00a0must have felt to have been stuck with me.\u00a0 This independantartsy theater ( what are you wearing?)\u00a0chick-with nothing that really\u00a0matched\u00a0and a penchant\u00a0for the positive- this me\u00a0she “just could not get”.\u00a0 At one point,\u00a0the princess drew up a schedule so she could rise first and\u00a0be on her way-I was asked to please not sit with her at meals.\u00a0The schedule was\u00a0down to the minute of coming and going, study time and above all avoidance.\u00a0 Please.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0My feelings were hurt-but as luck would have it-I got to\u00a0keep the room to myself- no other roommate was\u00a0to be\u00a0assigned.\u00a0\u00a0My room stayed\u00a0a single and I stayed in it for the next four\u00a0years.\u00a0 It became the room to gather and hang ( after studying, of course)\u00a0\u00a0I found friends and for the next four years-and for years to follow we stayed in touch.<\/p>\n

To this day I still don’t know what was so traumatic for the princess and I have no idea what became of her and the Ice Queen.\u00a0 Maybe we will find out in April, 2010. Save the date.<\/p>\n

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