17 Years Ago...

It was fall of 1993 and I was 18. Living in Nation Hall at Pittsburg State in SE Kansas, my life revolved around new friends (a few old ones), the excitement of being "on my own", and perhaps sadly, boys, er, men? ah...let's call them guys.

I had recently broken off a two-year relationship with a guy from back home, something I will never regret doing, though I do wonder what happened to him...hmmm. From there it was just a blur of nights out meeting new people at every turn. The girls on my floor...the lovely basement in our all-girl dorm--my, look at the paint job we did...went out every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night. A few of us non-Greek gals called ourselves the GDI's and liked to frequent the SigmaChi house best.

One of my fellow basement dwellers (not a GDI though now one of my dearest friends) gave me a journal as a "secret pal" gift in October...and from it's contents I can tell you I was a mess. Confusion was a word oft repeated on the pages. My list of guys included Dan, the "I only talk when I'm drunk" SigmaChi that was a really good kisser; Jas, the tormented artist who's heart was broken; Sheridan, the "I'm a senior and need to find a bride" Christian; and Ariel, the guy from Argentina who was just learning English, but I felt I would be friends with forever. Oh, yes, and the guy across campus from my high school who I'd had a secret crush on since eighth-grade and could never tell because one of my best friends had a not-so-secret crush on him too (I'm sorry D...if you're reading this I don't think I ever told you!).

Anyways, what 18-year old doesn't like a bit of drama in her love life, right? So for the coming weekend, I had plans to go with Sheridan on a harmless trip to Manhattan to watch the High School state football championship. I think his school must have been playing in it. At least it would be an escape from Pittsburg for the day. Friday night I even decided to stay in since we were leaving at the crack of dawn Saturday morning.

And then God had another plan...but I'll save that for tomorrow.