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2004-09-10 - 4:50 p.m.
finer points and issues much too small to force
A couple weekends ago, right before my semester started, I went up to see J.G. at Cedar Crest, where she’d already been for a couple weeks. When I helped her move in, I only stayed for a couple hours to carry things in and get settled, and then went home, but this time I got to visit and stay for a couple days for the first time in her new dorm. When I walked up to the building, I was ready to call her on the outside buzzer, but suddenly her window opened up and someone shouted “hey Al, she’s coming to let you in”, and it was her friend Hannum. It turned out her room was already full of friends. Apparently she’s going to be especially popular this year because she’s an R.A. and only the R.A.’s rooms have air conditioning. I didn’t realize when she moved in that this was an exclusive perk of her new job, but I was pretty glad for it. It was a pretty humid weekend. There were times when we had to retire to the room just to bask in the freon for a while. It was pretty much a nice quiet weekend, hanging out with her friends on campus. We went to their usual Saturday night spot, a nice little coffee shop I’d been to a couple times before. We mostly ate in the dining hall, but on Sunday I treated her to lunch at her favorite, Cracker Barrel. She feels guilty for always wanting to go there and get her favorite dish, but I like it too and there’s always something on the menu that I like or am interested in trying. We were so full that we could barely move after we got back to the dorm, but ended up going with friends out to Barnes & Noble shortly after. That night I watched the crappy VMA’s while J.G. did her homework. When it was getting a little late, maybe 11pm, we got a knock at the door and it was a few of her friends, who rushed the window as soon as they came in, because her window overlooks the front of the building, and there was the aftermath of some sort of snafu going on outside, with cop cars and an officer questioning a couple students, one of whom apparently had a baseball bat. I never expected something like that on an all-girl campus. Apparently they never did figure out exactly what went down. The nice thing about J.G. being an R.A. in a different dorm this year is that I can stay Sunday nights, and since I don’t work or have class til noon on Mondays, I was able to stay over and leave in the morning when she went to class. I even got to have some quick breakfast in the dining hall. Lately J.G. and I have been talking a lot lately about plans for next year. We’re both graduating in May, and she wants us to go on a vacation after graduating and go out to California to meet her family. That should be fun. And the lease on my apartment runs out at the end of June. So we’re talking about moving in together, but we’re not sure where yet. She hasn’t decided yet whether she wants to go straight to grad school or start working in the field after graduating. But I’ve told her that if she gets accepted to a good school or a job offer somewhere else, anywhere, I’d be willing to pick up and move with her. I love Baltimore, I love this part of the country, but I don’t really have any important plans beyond graduating and getting a better job than I have now. And I can do that anywhere, it’s her career that’s more exciting and potentially well-paying. So I’m willing to support her and go wherever she goes. It might be hard to start fresh in a new place, but it could be a good experience, and we’ll have each other. She’s never lived on her own before, she’s only ever lived with her parents and on campus, never had an apartment, so it’s a new experience to her. She’s a little scared about it, like she doesn’t feel like she’s ready to grow up. I keep telling her it’s not that hard and I’ll help her through it, though, we’ll be alright. -al
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