August 14, 2013

The Original Eight …

theoriginaleight

{Last day, Freshman year 1992}

Twenty-one years ago I was a new Freshman in college suffering badly from a painful break up with my High School boyfriend. I was living in the dorms, staying up ‘til all hours of the night with school work and play, putting on the Freshman fifteen like a champ.

Within a few short months, my boyfriend woes would disappear when I became friends with a group of kids (we really were just kids) who immediately loved me and made me feel like I had a family away from my family.

We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner together. We studied (sometimes) together. We took classes together. We hung out together. We went to church together. We went on dates together. In other words, we did everything together.

I should probably mention that this group of friends was me, my best friend Jenae, and SIX GUYS.

Yep. It was AWESOME.

In what can only be called a miracle, the eight of us were all in Utah at the same time this summer (we live in France, Virginia, Minnesota, California and Utah)! So, for the first time in twenty-one years, we were able to be together again.

It was one of the highlights of my trip. It made me truly happy to see these friends happily married, raising children, successful in their careers and still the same genuine, good people they were so many years ago.

And oh man did we laugh our heads off! The first night we met up at our college dorms, got special permission to eat in the cafeteria there, then took a little walk on the campus of our school. We stopped at a favorite hangout, The Malte Shoppe, for shakes and reminiscing, then ended staying up quite late talking and laughing at one of the guys’ house.

The next day I helped host a picnic for the eight of us and our families. There were twenty-seven children between us ranging in age from eighteen to two! We ate, visited with spouses and played Minute To Win It games.

Later that night we had a lovely dinner with our spouses and more reminiscing, including a slide show, singing and a power point presentation of all the pranks we pulled as Freshmen.

Here we are – The Original Eight. Samantha, Jenae, Scott, Chad, Brian, Tom, Justin and Ryan. I think this picture was taken at about 11:00 at night. We stayed and talked for another four hours . . .

Thanks guys, for reminding me why I loved my Freshman year so much. It was because of you. I hope we don’t wait another 20 years to meet up again!

chadstairs

4 comments:

Aiketa said...

You got special permission to eat at the cafeteria! That's so cool Samantha! I guess as a place you used to frequent regularly, it must have brought many memories back!

Love to hear about your college days!

Apis Melliflora said...

I love learning new things about you and this is all new to me. The girl to guy ratio is unbeatable and sounds like you made absolutely the most of your time together. How fun! The special t-shirts require further explanation.

Sue said...

In a word? Awesome! My freshman year we were the "Elite Eight" four guys, four girls. We had so much fun! One fond memory I have is how we asked the guys to Preference. We all met on the SWKT heating vent (remember that?) and gave the guys a cake that said "Eat Me" ala Alice in Wonderland. Inside we had laminated little clues about our date (what to wear, what we would be eating, etc). They thought that was the most clever thing ever! None of us ever dated seriously but we loved each other. It was an epic year.

The Queen Vee said...

I loved hearing all about these events as they happened and also hope you don't wait another 20 years to get together. I'm really glad you bought those gray and white jeans, they look hot on you. I bet the boys told you and Janae that you hadn't changed a bit.