Nancy and I were roommates my Junior year when she was a Sophomore. I didn't know her before we were roommates. I was a Residence Assistant in my dorm that year (a really bad one, because I let the girls in my unit listen to ROCK MUSIC, which wasn't allowed in our small Christian college), and she was a transfer student. We hit it off and I remember that year filled with lots of laughter, listening to Keith Green on my 8-track tape player, talking about boys, and eating lots of pizza and ice cream from Mom and Pops restaurant across the street from our dorm. She's one of these very self-possessed, confident people who I admire. I remember her telling me that I should grow my hair longer (I had a hideous short and permed hairdo), and so I did, because she seemed really more with it than I was and I trusted her opinion. I also remember her wearing flowered jeans..which I thought were so cool. She talked a lot about this guy named Kent who she met at the college she had transfered from. It's the guy she eventually married, leaving school early the next year to tie the knot. I was a little nervous for her because she left school before she graduated just to marry a guy who, in my opinion, she barely knew. But I also admired her moxie for taking the risk. I guess it paid off -- they've been married for 20 years.
We kept in touch the first few years after college. I visited her in St. Paul Minnesota, and then in California. She and Kent eventually moved to a small town in Minnesota and had 6 children. I moved to Chicago and we lost touch for a long time. Then, a few years ago, I got a call early one morning. It was Nancy.
"God just told me to call you," she said.
I was glad he did.
So we've been emailing for a while and then got to see each other this weekend. One of the good things about getting older is that you get to have friends who have known you for years and years. Friends you have a history with. Who knew you way back when.
Nancy is still the Nancy I remember. Beautiful, confident, funny and smart. Plus, she now has six wonderful kids -- all of whom she home schools! We're kindred spirits when it comes to books. We've read many of the same books and share favorite authors like Kathleen Norris, Marilynn Robinson, and Anne Lammot.
It's interesting where our lives have taken us. I doubt either of us could have imagined in 1985 where we would be today. She didn't want children -- now she has six. I never could have imagined I'd be a writer living in a big city -- and I've lived here for almost 20 years. We both have much better haircuts now and have our pizza and ice cream binges under control (well, except for this weekend with the Giordonos!). We're a little weathered by the struggles of life, but better for it, I think. We live very different lives, but we're still connected by the bonds that were forged 23 years ago in a dingy cinder-block dorm room eating pizza and laughing together and dreaming about the future.
Nancy and me in California, 1991. The tot in the stroller is now going to college.
Nancy and me, Chicago 2008.
Nancy and her two oldest boys.
2 comments:
very cool
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