Fourteen Years? For real?

Around this time, in August of 1996, my life changed in the craziest way. I went to college *for the first time - no giggles from the peanut gallery, please*. It was an exciting, interesting, wierd, unfulfilling, & ultimately sad way that I ended up at the University of Alabama. Of course, I grew up a major, major fan of the Crimson Tide. My family loved football season - I have a million fun memories of family time on gameday Saturdays - my mom & I making peanut butter balls, going shopping with Mom before gametime & bringing home pizza for the game, joking that when Bama played & the game was intense that my dad would get 'bad breath, diarrhea, & b.o.', trekking during a tornado (yeah, seriously) to the neighbor's house bc our power went out and it was the FOURTH QUARTER!!! I even had my own Tide By a Toe sweatshirt when the Original Tiffin kicked the game-winning fieldgoal against Auburn ;) I guess that I never thought much about where I would go to college, until it came time to choose. I knew I would go, but I hadn't considered where. When it came down to it, I was just a chick from a small town, who lived the small town life, cheered at the local high school, went to the same church forever, had the same friends forever, had the same boyfriend all through high school, and was an only child who was superclose to my family. I had great ACT scores & fabulous grades, I suppose I could have gone almost anywhere - but circumstance led me to UA.

No doubt, I was proud to be attending UA - it was totally the right decision! It was intimidating - none of my friends were going. I was pretty much alone. I even had a private room in Tutwiler dorm - a.k.a. 14 Floors of Whores (ha ha ha). We loaded up my Mom's car, my car, my Granddaddy's truck & made the big move. Move in day was chaotic, but promising. I can still remember the exact set up of my room, although some other details (like was it room 1032 or 1034?) have become fuzzy. I had my cool plaid comforter (looking back, it was HIDEOUS!), a maroon futon, a desk with my big huge computer on it (back when AOL made that big noise when dialing-up and screamed "You've Got Mail" at you), I had a big collage of pics from high school of all my friends & fun moments that I brought with me to remember my "life before". I had my hooptie TV on my shelf beside my mirror & my stereo in the corner.

It's totally insane how quickly life changes when you go to college - things change as quickly as the fall winds that begin to sweep in as September progresses. I went from hometown high school girl, to Freshman Sorority Girl. I pledged Zeta Tau Alpha & was scooped up & loved by my sorority sisters immediately. Say what you will about it, but it was a wonderful way to find your "place" in such a large environment. Suddenly, I had parties, meetings, hangout time, oh, and class ;) My "old world" began to pass away - my high school romance faded quickly - I couldn't believe the world of guys that existed outside of my hometown!, I kept in touch with my "core group" of hometown friends, but the rest faded away as well; I couldn't believe the freedom that came with college. I mismanaged it - I can totally admit that now. I didn't know how to study - I had never hardly studied a day in my life and was in the National Honor Society & graduated in the top 10 in my class. I partied. Alot. A whole lot. Not my finest moments. Definitely not living in the will of God. I was living it up at one of the top 5 party schools in the nation. I found myself on probation at the end of my first semester - Roll Tide! Wow.

So, as my freshman year came to a close, I met (through one of my sweet sorority sisters) my future husband. He made good grades. It struck a fire under me - I'm competitive ;) I don't know if I matured, or if the freedom just got old, but I began to party much less and care much more about making Dean's List. Life became more settled - as much as you can say for a college student.

Despite the crazy amount of trials & tribulations & tears that I am so not gonna discuss here - I think a whole lot about my freshman year at UA. I think about the newness, the freedom, the pride. Especially this time of year, when many people who were the big fish in a small pond like I was, are dropped off at college to start becoming an adult. I think about lying in my tiny dorm room bed alone at night watching "Loveline" before I fell asleep. I think about cruising in the 240 SX listening to "Jagged Little Pill". I think about playing cards at my sorority sister's apartment before swaps. I will never smell Peach lotion from Bath & Body works and not think about Sorority Rush 1996. I remember my ripped up CK jeans & think about how awesome I felt in them. I remember the walk to 912 Magnolia Drive. I remember the smell of fall at UA. I use carmex very, very, very sparingly now - I was addicted to it during my Freshman year at UA. As soon as I use it, it takes me back, right there to that dorm room, in the dark, watching TV, thinking on freedom, thinking on life, thinking teenage dreams - and I never want to lose those memories. I remember eating baseball cookies at the sorority house & drinking orange kool-aid. I remember the places we frequented. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I can romanticize it now, because I am so removed from it - but, it was a broken road. Many things I am not proud of, some things I miss, but it lead me to who I am now. It led me to my husband. It led me to love UA. I have my childlike love for football again :)

So, fourteen years ago, I set out on a crazy journey. I made alot of mistakes, but the initial decision was the correct one. It has made me, me. God knows what he's doing! A tiny part of me envies those luckies that are moving into Tutwiler - life is so just beginning for them! Hope that the experience shapes their lives in the way that it has shaped mine!

Roll Tide Roll!!!! ;)