mama says om theme: wild

I still remember distinctly the first moment I met her. I had just climbed nine flights of stairs to the top floor of the dorm where I would be living for the next year. The elevators were jammed with freshmen and all their belongings. I stood in line to find out which room was mine and who my roommate would be. I did not know anyone there so I had just gone "potluck" and let the school decide who I would be living with. I told them my name and they said that "T" (names have been changed to protect the not so innocent) was my roommate. From directly behind me I heard a voice, "That's me!" and up stepped a five foot-tall, sweaty girl. But even with her small stature, her strong presence made her seem much taller. She had apparently climbed the nine flights of stairs, also. My first impression was that she was very tan and very freckly. We were both brunettes with brown eyes and big Texas hair. I was intimidated immediately.

We got set up in our room which was a 4X4 cube, or so it seemed. I found out she was a "pledge" for a sorority. I came from a family of Aggies who frowned on the whole Greek thing but I said nothing. For the first month or so, she dutifully went to all the sorority events and kissed up to all the people she was supposed to kiss up to, but one night she came home and I got my first glimpse of the real "T".

After having sat through another boring meeting trying to prove she was good enough to become a "Chi Omega" or something, she reached her limit. She stormed into our tiny room, headed straight for the 1X2 window, opened it and started to climb out. She said something along the lines of, "I can't take it anymore. Please let me jump." She was kidding of course, but I played along and stopped her from plummeting the nine stories down (although I did for a moment consider the rumor that if your roommate died during a semester you'd get an automatic 4.0). She quit her sorority aspirations the next day. I was so proud.

I'd never felt so plain until I met her. She was a wild child. She'd done it all in high school, unlike me. When I told her I was a virgin who'd never had a drink she almost fainted.
"Here, have some of this," she said.
"What is it?"
"Everclear."
"Okay."
I trusted her completely.
She was sometimes right, sometimes not.

She had crazy ideas like: let's get pets. Who cares that we live in a dorm. We need a cat. We need a hamster. Make that two hamsters. I followed her lead and before I knew it, we were the proud owners of a virtual dorm menagerie. When there were fire drills in the middle of the night, we'd put the cat in the closet, walk down all nine flights and stare up at our room, hoping it was just a drill. Pets were not allowed. When I came home from class one day to find her sitting on the floor, eating Wendy's with her lifeless hamster on the floor in front of her (he died of natural causes), I could not have known what type of funeral she would end up giving him. "It's breathing again!" she shrieked. It was true. Although cold and lifeless, it did seem to be inhaling. Out the window it went.

Men loved her. She was a free-spirit. She could not be tamed or controlled. It only made them want to subdue her more. But she always fought back. Except for one time. She had a fight with her boyfriend during a double date we were on. He stormed out of the room they were fighting in and told me I might check on her because it appeared she'd passed out. I went in and started to get her shoes off to make her comfortable when suddenly one of her eyes popped open and she asked, "Is he gone?" She was playing possum to get rid of him. We were both trying so hard not to laugh when he came back in the room I'm sure I had tears running down my face. She immediately went limp.

She never failed to come up with new ideas. Once, she decided that being a stripper would be a good way to make some extra college cash. She and my other roommate actually went and applied together. If I wasn't an 'A' cup, I might have gone myself. She had a way of making things sound like such a good idea. At the last minute, they both chickened out. I was surprised.

It's funny, she has said before that she never would have finished college if I hadn't been her roommate, and I think I might have finished if she hadn't been mine. But I don't begrudge her for it (there were lots of other reasons it didn't happen). Knowing her enriched my life. Before, I was much more shy and uptight. I met my husband through her and she met hers through me. I have memories of that time that I would not have without her. They were some of the best years of my life. If I'd had some bookworm roomie I might be sitting here with a degree right now, but I also would probably be sitting here alone and bored.

I don't think she knows how much she means to me. I've never known anyone else quite like her. She is strong, smart and funny as hell. She is passionate, impatient and creative. I love her dearly and miss her terribly. We still keep in touch but it's not the same as being able to hop in the car with her and head to Wendy's blasting "Hotel California" all the way as we procrastinate studying for our finals.

I hope we'll always be friends. I can't imagine life without her, then, or now.

mama says om