college

One of the happiest times in my life were my college days.  Saint Mary's College.  Funny, recently my mom and I were talking and she reminded me how homesick I was at first.  I had forgotten.  But I was homesick that first year, even with my brother a college junior at a university across the street.  This was before the days of email and Skype, cell phones and free long distance, when contact meant a hand written letter, or an expensive long distance phone call.

 

However I quickly became acclimated to college life, making new friends, going to dances, football games, and getting into art.  I joined the gymnastics club.  I found a favorite road to take long bike rides.  I took interesting classes.  By my sophomore year I had decided to major in art.

I had always loved art as a kid and teen.  I had taken classes in those days but nothing was like the total immersion into the life of an artist that happened in college.  My professors were real artists, all of them.  There was a gallery on campus that I worked in, learing to hang paintings and display sculptures.  I studied drawing, ceramics, fibers, photography, sculpture, and printmaking.  A couple of hours away was the big city of Chicago with the Art Institute, galleries, and funky cool people...all very new to my small town girl eyes.  

I met one of my very best friends in college.  I just talked to her today, over twenty years later.   What a blessing Janel is in my life.  We have been through boyfriends, break ups, living together in college and afterwards, first jobs, weddings, pregnancies, births, and now raising children...

Last summer Gary, my father and I left Miller Beach one day and drove the kids to South Bend, Indiana, where we visited my college campus.  I had not been back since graduation.  We walked around and went inside three of the four dorms I lived in.  We toured the athletic center and the art building.  Although there are some new buildings, it is pretty much the same.  It was wonderful being there after so many years.   

Then we drove across the street to the University of Notre Dame and my father toured us around.  I have many fond memories there.  When my brother was a student we would visit, have meals together, talk on the phone (with a cord, remember them?)  My brother had nice friends who were fun, he lived with a large group of guys, including a football player, Steve Beuerlein, who eventually went pro.  My senior year of college the Notre Dame football team won the national championship, which was very exciting.  The games were magical, the school spirit there unparalleled anything I had experienced before or since.  

It was a really fantastic day.  Thanks Dad!