I just had a lovely evening.
An old college roomie was in town and came over with her family for a visit. She was a great roommate. We have one of those friendships that require no catching up. Ya just pick up where you left off. I feel quite sisterly towards her actually (that being a good thing). We only lived together for a year but, man, it was quite the year. We were all pretty poor and were always wondering where next months rent was going to come from. We survived somehow. It seems like a long lifetime ago. Here are a few things I remember about that year…
1. In my hiking and survival class, I had to learn to build a fire using a bow drill in order to get an A. The night before the final, I was practicing in the living room. I had some major complaints about the smoke.
2. More than once we chased the tow truck down the road with the boy friends car attached.
3. We’d play “stiff as a board” and then throwing the victim fully clothed into the swimming pool.
4. The apartment ducks somehow were in the bathtub. Man, do they sure poop when they’re scared.
5. The mystery of the disappearing clothes… turns out a certain roommate was selling our favorite pair of blue jeans at Pibs Exchange for cigarette money.
6. A box of pistachio jello pudding tasted like the greatest delicacy. We were so sad when it fell on the floor. We sat down on that filthy linoleum and ate it up. (We were only slightly mortified when someone walked in. I think we asked them to join us.)
7. Cheese quesadillas were my staple food. I even rationed my cheese.
8. I took a roommie on a bike ride. She fell and I thought she was a wimp when she hitch-hiked back home. She was complaining about her shoulder so I (who just finished a first aid class) tried to pop her dislocated shoulder back into place. After returning from the ER, I was pretty mortified to find out her collar bone was broken. (Sorry Steph!)
9. That next summer I was going to study abroad in Zimbabwe. We baked and baked and baked cookies and sold them in front of Walmart. I’m amazed at how generous some people are.
10. I worked at the cafeteria, breakfast shift. On some mornings I had to make omelets on request with that disgusting liquid egg stuff. Quite often they would burn. The cafeteria would fill with a distinctive smoke smell which would follow me to class.
11. I broke a few hearts that year. What a dirt bag I was.
12. Most of all, I remember the sweet friendships with the girls from #108.
My name is Manda and I love creating 
