Small World

Dateline: Fall 1994
I am a college freshman at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. I have probably mentioned this before. I loved Vermont and hated Middlebury. I was not prepared for dorm life - particularly dorm life with no rules. I visited friends at other schools that year and they all had secure dorms with quiet hours. I lived in a dorm where people wandered in at all hours and the partying never stopped and my neighbors regularly played their electric guitars at 3 AM. Plus, I was this uptight little Mormon girl. Then there was the fact that the school was really remote and I had no car. Oh, and my roommate was literally a little crazy and her boyfriend (who the neighbors nicknamed "Scar") moved into our dorm room about a month after school started and wouldn't leave. Basically, I was miserable and sleep-deprived.

The one bright spot was the group of friends I made early on and who kept me from throwing myself off the roof of my dorm during that first semester. Mark, Rachel and Kirsten kept me sane, mostly because even though they weren't Mormon, they weren't into partying either. So while everyone else was drunk, we would hang out. Also, Kirsten and Rachel let me sleep on their floor when Scar moved in.

For Thanksgiving, Kirsten invited Rachel and me to her family's house in Massachusetts. That weekend she took us on excursions to Harvard Square in Cambridge and Thayer Street in Providence. That was the first time I had ever been to either city.

At the end of fall semester, Kirsten transfered. I transfered at the end of the year.

Now fast forward 14 years to today. Guess who I just ran into at a downtown Providence lunch spot? Kirsten. Turns out she's an attorney too and we work across the street from each other. We're having lunch next week. Can you say random?