My dad is learning how to text. He called me tonight and said it took him 25 minutes to text “Are you watching the Olympics?”
I told him I think its hilarious that he had a blackberry before they were cool and didn’t even know what it was, figured out how to “wink” and “poke” and find a wife on the internet, but is just now learning to text. Dads.
Okay. Down to business. Yesterday I got back from Florida. Sometime between last Thursday and now, I forgot that New Orleans was my home- I kept thinking I was going back to Indiana. Even worse, no one here knew I left, and no one knows I am back. I went all day today without talking to a single person except Navigon. To her credit, we had some great conversations about how to get to Target and Wal-Mart and the importance of u-turns. I eventually tabled the issue as she was getting edgy through her passive aggressive use of the words “Please” and “When possible” and “Now” but it was great to hear her voice. At 7:30 I realized Navi wasn’t actually a human and started calling real people. I just felt like someone should know where I was and what I was doing.
Then I came home to the cardboard cutout of SJP. She was glad to see me, I could tell by her stare. Her eyes were saying, “Welcome home. You look fantastic.” I wanted to have some coffee and tell her about Florida, but her legs don’t bend and she can’t handle liquids of any kind. So I settled for Subway and the weather channel meteorologist.
I feel like a stranger in my own life. Especially when I am in Wal-mart or Barnes & Nobles and get caught up in produce or magazines and walk out expecting to see Jefferson Point, but instead see the New Orleans skyline. I typically gulp and wimper and suck it up. But it is an awful 2 seconds during the realization.
Earlier today, I went to the uptown campus to find out about the job (the lady was gone) and must have arrived right at the beginning of welcome weekend or something. There were a million undergrads everywhere all fresh-faced and cute and hopeful. There were parents and little brothers and looks on their faces like, “This is my best friend, Sue. I just met her 5 minutes ago.”
I could have cried remembering that feeling—although my family never actually moved me in, it was the Broadheads—but seeing Elaine and Sprinky on that first day and thinking I was going to die when I got a load of Sprinky’s blues clues bedset. Hello? Blues Clues! Then making instant best friends with everyone, and switching friends, like, every 3 weeks until we found our places. I just loved it. Even things like Cara threatening to rip out people’s ovaries for being too loud in the lounge. Even that. And Jill tearing my shirt, and Sprinky killing Jill’s hermit crab, and Elaine saying inappropriate things to Millenium Bear in her sleep, and all of us making Helen pee her pants in the middle of the night; stealing all the shower curtains, Crazy Lena firing me in my sleep. Honestly, I could go on for 4 years.
This afternoon, already reduced to conversing with my navigation device and a cardboard cut-out of SJP due to lack of readily available friends, I couldn’t help but feel unbelievably jealous and nostalgic for my college friends and the intimacy of life together—literally, next door from each other. Now I am just a way older version. With less fun. And less energy. And less metabolism. And less friends. Boo.
My good friend said I am good at collecting people and that I’ll have plenty soon.
I said I USED to be good at it, but that I didn’t think it was my thing anymore.
She said it’s who I am.
I told her I was too worn out for social awareness. Those types of things take a lot of emotional energy and motivation, which I had in abundance at 19.
At 27, I feel very comfortable settling for 25 Oreos and America’s Next Top Model at home by myself.
Us as freshmen- you guys will love this:
Hausser
Me, Chuck, Steph, Beth, Trish
Making Koolaid
Finding moldy koolaid (we thought we had created a jellyfish)
Bball- I miss this! Team sports are the best.
Bethany (the person and the dorm :)
Valentine’s Day- I actually got called off this shirt
Millenium bear- the giant stuffed bear my grandma sent me for Christmas. Not quite how she envisioned us using it…
Family weekend
Twister in Bethany lounge
Sprinky and the Bethany lounge mantel
Miss you guys.
Love you guys.
(This whole college thing just isn’t the same without you.)
Hello 
hmmmm…i can resonate with your feelings. that is exactly how i felt when i moved to ca. remember how i would call the bethany lounge all the time? remember when you told me to “suck it up” because i choose to move to ca? it was a good kick in the pants for me, and i literally met sarah that week. so i am going to say “suck it up” you choose to move to NOLA in hopes that you would find your NOLA soul mate this week:) love you, c
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i second that sentiment. oh man.
also, i would formally like to apologize to you, here, on facebook, in front of all our friends. i’m sorry that i scared you with my blue’s clue’s sheets. i was a non-conformist then, and ill be a non-conformist till the day that i die. surely you know that by now. in fact, i’m considering some miley cyrus sheets for my next bedding experience.
anyway, i love you, and i miss you, and please don’t make a newer, bester friend, and replace me. it would totally ruin my bridesmaid line-up if you did.
tell sjp i said hi! i sure do miss her…
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your old pictures are so fun, they made my morning! but then again, they reminded me i used to be a lot skinnier, and used to have lots of fun girls right next door… but i’ll focus on the good memories. good old college days, life was so much easier then
i miss you. everytime i see a white rondevouz, i look to see if it’s you. that’s pathetic, but i miss you neighbor. really, we were neighbors for like 7 years. i had withdrawl when i went to target without you yesterday.
thanks for the memories.
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I’m thankful for you- a real friend- who loves me unconditionally even though you knew me through my college years- and after. And you still choose to be my friend even if we only talk every few months. Your friendship means a lot to me. Miss you. Love you. And thanks for reminding me for a minute why I wish I were 18 again.
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I love you, Brookie!
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i bet you never thought you’d wrestle an amish in college. and i never thought sprinky and i would stalk them at the welcome weekend. what an interesting four years of firsts.
when we all came to taylor we had to experience all our firsts together. maybe we had great friends from high school, and maybe they were all at amazing huge colleges with cool parties and it made us look like we lived in the movie ‘footloose.’ BUT our crazy little college made a huge impact. i never would have made it through my ‘first’ of moving back to germany without you guys. (case in point our group pic is displayed over my oven. that’s right. my oven. and i would read your notes every day and think, “aw, sprinky” “aw, steph” “aw, bethany” “aw, brooke”.) so, i hope we can get you through this ‘first’. we’ll get through it. don’t worry.
so, in the mean time why don’t you put on a hair mask and dream up our next taylor reunion?
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I have the answer 4 your loneliness, there, Brooke! “Wear that “Date Me” shirt! If u don’t have it anymore…GET ONE!
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Charisa- you and california = hope for me. But you did have a friend there, and you had a Shannon and eventually a Sprinky and great weather and mountains… I’ll hold out for my own personal Sarah, at least for now and dream about when you and sprinky visit me on the way to Cali? Please?
sprinky- i could provide you with some miley cyrus music if you want to go with that, although, to be honest, I really think she is turning into a mean girl. I think you should consider Raven-Symone.
Yes, we got through the blues clues AND the tie dye (and the snowboarding magazine cut-outs on your wall) and you know what? DIdn’t the Blue’s Clue’s business help identify your car when it was stolen? No judgement here. And who says you’re getting married? Hahaaaaa.
Steph- we all used to be skinnier. Its funny that that was I the first thing I thought, too. I think college set us all up to settle for nothing less than 35 friends on a daily basis. It’s hard living without eachother. ANd, for the record, yesterday I almost got the popcorn/icee combo at Target, but didn’t because there was no one to share it with. At Christmas, you and I are having the popcorn and Icee combo, end of story.
Bethany- I don’t know how we could NOT be friends. You and I prove that love wins, if you really want it to. Thanks for staying with me. It all comes down to a frozen mug in my freezer, which I kept thoughout this move because of the sentiment. Miss you! gotta go, there is a storm or something…
Bec- thanks for letting me collect you
Elaine- I love that we are still having ‘firsts’ together and that the Atlantic has nothing on us :) Hair mask- check. Oh, and ex-nay on the blues clues bit. I prefer That’s So Raven.
Juanita- my new shirt says: Be my friend.
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who knew you’d be part of carlos’ favorite college memory?
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I know, he is concentrating so hard. That was the same night Sprinky and Jed sandwiched him in that rowing machine.
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