So was I scared? Oh yeah. I was totally scared spitless. You're not supposed to be scared on your first day of college classes, right, you're supposed to be a big brave adult and already have your schedule memorized and smile at everyone you walk past and look the world in the face as you're going.
Tooooo bad.
I had spent half an hour curling my hair to perfection and my makeup looked great, but for some reason I had chosen a Hogwarts graphic tee and grey boots over a cute blouse and I had my schnoz buried in my nifty printable schedule (printable meaning I had to print it myself... we were REALLY not in Kansas anymore), and I kept stopping to look at all the signs and room numbers, and all the real (totally over-the-top nice because we're all Mormon here) college students kept giving me kind smiles and knowing looks, which meant that I had FRESHMAN written all over me.
Fortunately I found my way to my last class of the day without too much trouble, and made it all the way through it, too. "Math for the Real World" is the course title. You know. Math. For the real world. As opposed to the virtual world, or the chocolate world. Who knows. It flew by and I strode out of the classroom much more confident--after all, I'd just survived a COLLEGE SCHOOL DAY, right? I'm a big girl now.
I was headed back in the direction from whence I had come before class, consulting my schedule again, when I, not for the first time that day, bumped into the arm of another student. I looked up quickly to offer the routine, "Oh, sorry," and said it in perfect synchrony with a blonde-haired (like me) blue-eyed (like me) totally grown-up MAN (ha ha) who didn't look an inch under eight feet tall (I'm five-one-and-a-quarter when I'm wearing shoes). I had three thoughts in three seconds. Geez, my nose would've gone right into his belly button if we'd run headlong into each other. He looks really nice. He looks---really familiar!
"Heyyyy!" we both said, and moved out of the way of between-class traffic.
"Elder....Dearing, right?" I scrambled for his first name and came up with Garrett. I didn't think that was it so I didn't say so.
"Josie Bowen! Not Elder anymore," he said, grinning. "You can call me Garrett, if that's not too weird for you." It was too weird for me. Totally too weird. "How are you? It's been... geez, it's been years, hasn't it? How old were you when I served in your ward? Fifteen?"
"Twelve," I grinned back; he laughed, which pleased me because it meant he knew I was kidding (sidenote: I was sixteen when he served in my area). "I'm good! Just working through the standard college freshman nerves."
Elder Dearing nodded. "Cool. I was hoping I'd run into you today!"
That surprised me. "You... really? I didn't even know you were here." I laughed.
He did too. "I saw it on Facebook that you were coming to school here."
Are we friends on Facebook? "Hmm. Well, we should catch up or something. I don't know anyone else here." I felt totally affronted at the words that had just come out of my own mouth. Catch up? Not that we knew each other, at all. I was just over-enthusiastic because he was the first familiar face I'd seen in two weeks, and he was just being friendly. Catch up?! Ugh.
Surprising me again, he nodded and said, "Yeah, totally! Hey, I've gotta go talk to my professor, but message me on Facebook or something. We'll get together." He smiled and waved and started off again back down the hall.
I watched him for a few seconds, dumbstruck, and then continued off in the opposite direction. It was just short of a mile and half that I had to walk to my new apartment, and I marveled over the encounter the whole way. He knew I was here? What the? I can't believe he recognized me! What a small world. Ha. Only at BYU-I would I run into someone I knew as a missionary. I'd forgotten he was that tall. He must be like seven-six. Wow.
~~~
You may have recognized Elder Dearing's last name to be, also, the title of my blog. Spoilers.
Now, a year later, I know that Garrett is actually only six-foot-four. I know he wears a size twelve shoe and has twenty-six neckties, that he's lactose intolerant but can eat a whole bag of string cheese in one sitting, that he's colorblind and he grinds his teeth when he's asleep and prefers pie to cake on his birthday. I know that if he's grumpy, he's stressed, and that he likes his dinner hot and ready when he gets home from work.
CYNICS SHOULD BE AWARE: Blog addresses such vital concepts as the sanctity of marriage, the family as the fundamental unit of society, reflections and rumination on what love really is, happiness, and the day-to-dayness of making ends meet.
This is our story; this is our life.
Tooooo bad.
I had spent half an hour curling my hair to perfection and my makeup looked great, but for some reason I had chosen a Hogwarts graphic tee and grey boots over a cute blouse and I had my schnoz buried in my nifty printable schedule (printable meaning I had to print it myself... we were REALLY not in Kansas anymore), and I kept stopping to look at all the signs and room numbers, and all the real (totally over-the-top nice because we're all Mormon here) college students kept giving me kind smiles and knowing looks, which meant that I had FRESHMAN written all over me.
Fortunately I found my way to my last class of the day without too much trouble, and made it all the way through it, too. "Math for the Real World" is the course title. You know. Math. For the real world. As opposed to the virtual world, or the chocolate world. Who knows. It flew by and I strode out of the classroom much more confident--after all, I'd just survived a COLLEGE SCHOOL DAY, right? I'm a big girl now.
I was headed back in the direction from whence I had come before class, consulting my schedule again, when I, not for the first time that day, bumped into the arm of another student. I looked up quickly to offer the routine, "Oh, sorry," and said it in perfect synchrony with a blonde-haired (like me) blue-eyed (like me) totally grown-up MAN (ha ha) who didn't look an inch under eight feet tall (I'm five-one-and-a-quarter when I'm wearing shoes). I had three thoughts in three seconds. Geez, my nose would've gone right into his belly button if we'd run headlong into each other. He looks really nice. He looks---really familiar!
"Heyyyy!" we both said, and moved out of the way of between-class traffic.
"Elder....Dearing, right?" I scrambled for his first name and came up with Garrett. I didn't think that was it so I didn't say so.
"Josie Bowen! Not Elder anymore," he said, grinning. "You can call me Garrett, if that's not too weird for you." It was too weird for me. Totally too weird. "How are you? It's been... geez, it's been years, hasn't it? How old were you when I served in your ward? Fifteen?"
"Twelve," I grinned back; he laughed, which pleased me because it meant he knew I was kidding (sidenote: I was sixteen when he served in my area). "I'm good! Just working through the standard college freshman nerves."
Elder Dearing nodded. "Cool. I was hoping I'd run into you today!"
That surprised me. "You... really? I didn't even know you were here." I laughed.
He did too. "I saw it on Facebook that you were coming to school here."
Are we friends on Facebook? "Hmm. Well, we should catch up or something. I don't know anyone else here." I felt totally affronted at the words that had just come out of my own mouth. Catch up? Not that we knew each other, at all. I was just over-enthusiastic because he was the first familiar face I'd seen in two weeks, and he was just being friendly. Catch up?! Ugh.
Surprising me again, he nodded and said, "Yeah, totally! Hey, I've gotta go talk to my professor, but message me on Facebook or something. We'll get together." He smiled and waved and started off again back down the hall.
I watched him for a few seconds, dumbstruck, and then continued off in the opposite direction. It was just short of a mile and half that I had to walk to my new apartment, and I marveled over the encounter the whole way. He knew I was here? What the? I can't believe he recognized me! What a small world. Ha. Only at BYU-I would I run into someone I knew as a missionary. I'd forgotten he was that tall. He must be like seven-six. Wow.
~~~
You may have recognized Elder Dearing's last name to be, also, the title of my blog. Spoilers.
Now, a year later, I know that Garrett is actually only six-foot-four. I know he wears a size twelve shoe and has twenty-six neckties, that he's lactose intolerant but can eat a whole bag of string cheese in one sitting, that he's colorblind and he grinds his teeth when he's asleep and prefers pie to cake on his birthday. I know that if he's grumpy, he's stressed, and that he likes his dinner hot and ready when he gets home from work.
CYNICS SHOULD BE AWARE: Blog addresses such vital concepts as the sanctity of marriage, the family as the fundamental unit of society, reflections and rumination on what love really is, happiness, and the day-to-dayness of making ends meet.
This is our story; this is our life.