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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

From the Vaults #4

This weather is making me want to curl up in bed all day long. I feel like this painting.

September 1987:

Loren MacIver, "Morning Cart" 1960
"Hey J!! Sorry I wasn't home when you called! Next time leave a number where I can call you back if you have one. I love being in school again. I've been on lots of field trips - I even saw a copperhead snake once (these things are exciting to field biologists. Today is my 1st exam and I'm quite worried about it because I haven't studied enough. I hope you are happy there. let me know how things are going. Is your roommate ok? Mine are but they have bad taste in music. Write when you can! Can't wait to see you at T-giving! love, A"

This was my first quarter in college, and my sister's first semester in grad school. I ended up getting mono the week before Thanksgiving. I spent 4+ days in bed unable to function, and had cancelled my Thanksgiving plans...but the day before I started feeling human again, and I was able to score a ride in a tiny 1960s Volvo with three other students. They wouldn't confirm my passage until the last minute because they were hoping to get someone who could share driving time (I didn't and still don't have a driver's license, which makes me a very unattractive rideshare prospect). We left well after midnight. I remember waking up as the car was drifting off the road as our driver fell asleep at the wheel - no crash, we were all fine, and we pulled over so the driver could sleep for an hour or so. We arrived mid Thanksgiving morning to rain and crankiness, and an old hippie who looked like Santa Claus came out to greet us and to ask if any of us would like to partake in some vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner. I called my sister and said "I don't know where the hell I am, but come pick me up NOW".

Of course, by my second year in college I had turned into a vegetarian hippie, but it's amusing to remember what a culture shock it was at the time.

6 comments:

  1. Urgh! Remember when I got mono AND strep throat in Cincy and had to leave? I was out of commission for two weeks and lost 17 lbs in that fortnight. Ah, mono, best diet ever! But man, I was miserable.

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  2. Of course I recall that! It was your escape from our apartment that was sliding down the hill.

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    1. I remember that Thanksgiving... and I remember what a crappy hostess I was to you because you had !MONO! and I was terrified that I would get it in the middle of being in school so I made you walk around with a cup labeled with your name so you wouldn't infect anyone else. Talk about uptight!

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    2. I had forgotten about that. It kinda makes sense, although of course I was no longer contagious by then.

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  3. the driver fell asleep????? there are things I should not know!

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    Replies
    1. It's amazing any of us survived to adulthood.

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