Blast from the Past

I signed up a long time ago on Classmates.com for both High School and college. I just have the basic membership, as I don't want to pay whatever they want to send emails or view biographies. I got an email notification from Classmates.com that someone had sent me a message. I logged on and I saw 2 messages, one from a high school buddy and one from a college buddy. I don't check it much, High Scchool and College are so removed from my life and the only people who send in information for alumni things are newly married women.

Karen, a friend from High School, sent me an email. We didn't hang out too much, but it's funny what you remember so far back. I think it was the spring of my senior year, my friends Karen and Lisa and, I think, Marylee were cruisin with the windows down. Karen was having serious problems with her contact lenses, as the air was full of pollen. I remember she had very pretty blue eyes. We shared contact lens issues. I know I hung out with her more than this, but for some reason this paticular incident is all I reallly remember. I can even tell you where we were driving (Hummer Road, just a little ways from the intersection of Little River Tpke and Hummer Road.)

My other friend, Patty was from college. I met Patty my junior or senior year (they all run together, I went to summer school 2 summers in a row). There was a group of students who lived off campus and were institutions at this school. I'm sure you know the type, geology majors who enjoyed reefer more than going to class. One guy would flunk out every spring because he'd go to Cape Hatteras to fish and never make it back to school. Patty knew these guys because she went to High School with them in McLean or Vienna, Va.

Patty was short with long, stringy dark hair, glasses and horrible buck teeth. She was a Library Science Major and so looked the part. She had about as much personality as a dish rag, but she was persistent. I remember she had a crush on a guy on another floor in my dorm, and she would literally camp out in the hallway, waiting for him to come home. She'd wait for HOURS. We'd all meet at the Student center to get $.50 beers. We'd all be at a booth and she'd come in and sit with us and put her bookbag on the floor for everyone to trip on. We started calling her BookBag Lady. A few years after graduation, when I had gotten my first 'real' job and moved into my own apartment, I discovered my neighbors across the hall knew Patty and her boyfriend Kip. Patty was like this shadow, she never contributed much, but she was always there. I guess she was a nice person, she just had NO opinions, thoughts or comments.

This trip down memory lane is depressing. That was so long ago, and we had so much fun. So much water under the bridge, too. I can't give my stories the flair that Katlanta has, so all I can say is, 'you had to be there'.

More to come...
As things happen, I'll be posting. Thanks for taking the time to read. You're opinions are welcome but if you have to start calling me names, don't bother, I won't read them. As my Dad says 'Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one.'