Sep. 7: How we met

Day #7 of September Blog Challenge. I’m getting tired of starting every post with that sentence. Today’s topic:

Write about when you first met one of your dearest friends.

Since Sherilee and I started this blog challenge together, I’ll tell you about how she and I became friends.

Allow me to set the scene: It was the summer of 1986, and Billy Ocean, Falco, and Mr. Mister were topping the charts. On TV, we were catching reruns of Airwolf and Perfect Strangers. We crowded into theaters to see Top Gun, Cobra, and Short Circuit, because Howard the Duck, Big Trouble in Little China, and Meatballs III: Summer Job were months away. Ronald Reagan was president, and we paid little attention to world news because we were 17 years old and thought it didn’t matter. It was a time of innocence, of carefree spirits, of Smart Start at Walla Walla College.

The summer session at WWC (now WWU) was like WWC Lite—very few students, a pared-down class catalog, limited hours of offices and eateries, etc. This meant that everyone who lived on campus was pretty much in the same place at the same time. Meals in the cafeteria were for socializing more than eating, and I remember spending a lot of time in there. There really wasn’t much to do on campus in the summer.

My first class at WWC started the week after I graduated from high school. I first remember seeing Sherilee when we were both in line in the admissions office. I think it was later that same day that we ran into each other in the dorm and introduced ourselves. We lived on the same hall and her room was next door to a friend’s of mine. Between lounging around the dorm and wasting time in the cafeteria, Sher and I became fast friends. If I opt for a selective memory of that summer—and I do!—I can say that my first few months at WWC would have been one big yawn without her.

I remember the boredom being extreme on the Fourth of July; it was pouring rain, and the campus was completely quiet. We went into Walla Walla for a matinee of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which had just come to town. We probably saw it again and again (I honestly don’t remember, but since that was kinda my thing back then—seeing movies repeatedly until I could quote them word-for-word because THAT’S a great use of time and $$—we undoubtedly did). Here’s what I love about this little bit of our story: I always always always associate Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with Sher. Always. And I adore that movie so, so much, and that gives me smiley face.

Is it okay if I stop there? Because if I continue, then we get into the strange tale of this guy that liked her and then changed his mind and liked me but neither of us really liked him at all, and then this other guy that I liked and she hated, and then later how I would visit her room and whine about my boyfriend and her roommate thought I was a friggin’ idiot, and then Sher went to Australia, and then she came back and we were still friends, and then we weren’t, and then a lot of years passed and we reconnected on Facebook and then the rest of the story is good again? Yep, Ferris Bueller is a good place to stop.

Because now? Now I just love the friendship that Sherilee and I have. Thanks to texts, emails, Facebook, and our blogs, we “talk” almost every day; we occasionally see each other face to face, and we exchange delightful gifts. I absolutely treasure her.

1986:	Shevaun, Jen, Sherilee
2010:	Sherilee, Jen, Kim F’n-W

Life takes us so many directions; it’s good to have a friend along the journey. You should be so lucky to have one like Sherilee.

If you’re a blogger and want to do our blog challenge with us, let me know and I’ll send you our list! Otherwise, tune in here (and on Sherilee’s happy little blog and Lisa’s and Jenn’s and Sunshine’s too!) every day in September.