Category: college

The Tennis Shoe and the Broken Window

Posted in classmates, college, high school, Iowa, Iowa State University, locker room, memoir, physical fitness, physical fitness award, softball, teacher, windowLeave a comment

It was senior year in high school. I was on my last semester of PE, my least favorite class. I maintained a straight-A average in all other classes. Not PE. It alternated between a B and a C. I was feeling good. We were in our next-to last unit, the physical fitness award. I already… Continue reading The Tennis Shoe and the Broken Window

Hold the Crunch

Posted in best, California, college, dating, food cravings, holidays, house party, humor, marriage proposal, Pennsylvania, phone call, relationships, singingLeave a comment

(re-run) Jim’s job was to put the crunch in the new peanut butter, Jif. One machine chopped the peanuts into slivers, and another machine used pistons to plug the slivers into the creamy product. Jim also had to taste test peanut butter that had been sitting on a shelf for three months in 100 degree… Continue reading Hold the Crunch

Bricks, Ricks, & Cardboard

Posted in blind date, college, dating, firsts, humor, Iowa, memoir, Midwestern, relationships, restaurant, Rocky Mountains, worstsLeave a comment

(re-run) The college mixer was hosted by the men in Lorch House in Friley Hall, in the heart of the Iowa State campus. Tappan House, the top two floors of my dorm, Barton Hall, was invited. Yes, I am old. Yes, dorm floors are co-ed now. This was in the days of the dinosaurs. The… Continue reading Bricks, Ricks, & Cardboard

Parking Lot Pick-up

Posted in Berkeley, California, cars, Catholic, college, dancing, dating, fraternity, friends, humor, relationshipsLeave a comment

(re-run) Edith and her friend, Laura, were bored. It was Saturday night, and they’d been at their all-girls’ school, Holy Names, for a whole week. It was time to find some guys, to find a party. They pulled into Berkeley and headed for Fraternity Row. Laura spotted someone she had dated before and rolled down… Continue reading Parking Lot Pick-up

If Only I’d Known

Posted in 2020, brain, college, flirting, hindsight, hindsight is 2020, medications, memoir, Monica on Friends, Monk, OCD, risk, risk averse, Spain, VenezuelaLeave a comment

As they say, hindsight is 2020, which is referring to your vision, not what year it is. As in, your vision about what happened in the past is pretty good, now that you’ve had time to look at all the angles and analyze it. Looking back over my OCD life, I now understand that it… Continue reading If Only I’d Known

The Danger of Family Secrets

Posted in alcoholic, band, college, drugs, family, family secrets, grandma, grandpa, grandparents, honesty, medications, memoir, piano, police officer, relationships, secret, tap dancing, wedding anniversary, World War IILeave a comment

To this day my mother says, “It was a different time. That’s what families did in those days.” She is talking about family secrets. Mine had a whole bunch of them. My dead Uncle David, with his farm painting on the living room wall of my grandparents’ house, was a mystery to me.  He’d died… Continue reading The Danger of Family Secrets

The Princeton Ploy

Posted in cars, college, crush, dating, laundry, marriage, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, pick-up lines, relationships, roommate, travelLeave a comment

(re-run) It was her third day as a freshman at Temple University in Philadelphia. Sue was riding the elevator with her friends between Hardwick and Johnson Hall when he got on. He had all of his stuff. He was moving in. “School started already,” one of her friends said. “I was in San Diego,” he… Continue reading The Princeton Ploy