The Wonder Years (or is that the Wonderful Years)

My son just graduated from high school a few weeks ago and of course it was a reminder of my own high school experience over 3 decades ago (ugh...seeing that in print is making me feel old all of a sudden!)   I remember hearing that "these are the best years of your life", "enjoy every minute of them", "these people will be your lifelong friends" etc.  Well, as it turns out those four years were certainly fun and memorable for me, but they weren't the best of times  and those friends, who were my world for those high school years, eventually faded out of my world, never to return.
But my college friends....now that is a whole different story.
I had no idea the amazing wealth of friends I would meet--- and live with and grow with and cry with and laugh with and struggle with and celebrate with and pray with and grow spiritually with--- when I first entered that beautiful campus at Mary Washington College in the fall of 1981.

This is the Ann Carter Lee Hall, or ACL as we called it. This was  basically the student union building, plus there was a pub in the basement called "The Pub".     Hey, smart kids are not always the most creative kids.

This is Randolph Hall, where I spent both of my years at MWC.  It was a single-sex dorm, and no boys were allowed  in the rooms after a certain hour--only the lobby and the tv room.  We all loved living here and no one cared that  boys were not around every minute of the day in our living areas.

It is hard to put into words the impact this place had on my life.  Well, not really the place itself, but the people that were placed in my path.  Perhaps the most important thing that happened was connecting with a small group of girls, all of whom had some connection with Young Life. Our leaders, Jayne and Karla, also led the local Young Life club and, by our second year all of us were leading clubs, too. These  girls were really the first examples to me of what it is to live out your faith everyday, not just Sunday.

Seeing these buildings remind me again of how God puts people in our lives at just the right place--and just the right time--to give us what we need for the next step on our life's journey.

I had 2 roommates at Mary Wash (that's what we used to call it when it was just a 'college'. Now it has grown up and I believe it is  referred to as UMW--because Mary Washington was too girly for some folks).
My freshman roommie, Barbara, returned home after our first year. To say that she is sweet and kind and compassionate is 100 percent true. And I really believe her spiritual gifts are mercy and compassion.  But, she also has a terrific sense of humor-witty might be a good adjective--and she is  very smart. We don't get together often (usually once a year) but it never seems to matter. I think real friends are able to  simply appreciate the times they do spend together rather than dwelling on the weeks or months between those visits.
My other roommate, Maureen, has also been a lifelong friend. Unfortunately, she has lived out of state for nearly the past 25 years.  (Actually, for many years it was a good thing because I got to visit several really fun cities.  I am not sure why she and her husband stopped moving--surely they were not tired of me following them on every move and requiring them to be both tour guide and chef for each visit??)  To be honest , I could write a entire blog dedicated solely to this woman.  But, I will try  my best to summarize what it has been like to live with and know her.  Maybe a top 5 things I learned from Maureen over the years, in no particular order: (except the first one which really is the most important one)
1.  Catholics really do love and follow Jesus (but they still like Mary a whole lot and they think the Pope has some pretty good knowledge to pass along to them).  She and Barbara and two of my very special friends at MCV were all Catholic but they were also Christians.  What I learned from them was life changing for this little Baptist girl from the south who only knew 2 Catholic people in her whole life.   Maureen is now my go-to- gal whenever I have doctrinal or other Catholic related questions--mostly because I know she won't be offended or laugh at me and because she is always brutally honest with her answers.
2.  Every problem in life can be answered with a quote from the Cathy comic strip.  
3.  Late night food binging is fine as long as you have Jane Fonda or Richard Simmons to help you burn off the calories the next day.
4.  Being the smartest person among your friends doesn't mean you can't also be the most fun to be around.  Maureen had/ has more friends because everyone just wanted to be around her--they didn't have to know that she also carried a 4.0 GPA, right?
5.  Margaritas should be banned from happy hours.  Maureen introduced me to this devilish drink when she worked at Chi Chi's.  I am not sure whether to thank her or hate her for this.  
6. If you really want special treatment, make sure to be on her mom's good side.  Let me just say that Maureen's mom was probably not too keen on this little Irish, southern baptist girl at the very beginning.  But, I think I grew on her and that's when the special treatment came my way (actually it helped that I knew the words to most of the songs in her Frank Sinatra collection).  Anyway, she was the best cook, the best hostess, and let me go places with Maureen that she could have gone but let me go instead.  We sure did have some special times in that little apartment in Shirlington.

Maureen and her family live in another state so we rarely get to see each other but do keep in contact through Facebook (thank goodness for social media) and I still feel very connected to her.  When you have this many years and this many stories to tell, the friendship just seems to want to hold on. And that is exactly what we do...we hold on to all of these great memories and we hold on to each other's lives as they are now, even if distance doesn't permit us to be participants.


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