Facebook is certainly great for trips down memory lane. Just this week I heard from someone who roomed with my best friend, Sally, during our freshman year at Drury. This person (also an Anne) asked about both Sally and Leslie – Leslie was my roommate our freshman year and we lived across the hall from Sally and Anne. Sadly, Leslie lost her battle with cancer several years ago but she was a fixture in my life until then since she was also Ralph’s godmother.
I reflected back to some of the shenanigans that Sally, Leslie and I created – we were inseparable our freshman year and since Sally was 6’2″ and Leslie was 4’11″, when I walked in between them we looked like stair steps going across the campus.
Within a few weeks of arriving at Drury we were in the throes of sorority rush and the three of us had our sights set on being members of Pi Beta Phi. Since we were in a dorm that had a mix of freshmen and upperclassmen, we carefully timed our appearances in the gang showers to insure none of the sorority women saw us there lest they scratch us from their invitation lists to rush parties.
The big day finally arrived – preferential parties in early afternoon and then we signed our bids. I suicided Pi Phi and then as I walked back to the dorm wondered if I had just committed social suicide lest I not get a bid and spend the next few years as a social outcast.
We had been advised that “if” we didn’t get a bid, we would receive a phone call so we were to stay close by the phones. That was back in the old days prior to cell phones or even phones in every room so if we got a call, someone at the dorm desk buzzed our rooms and let us know which public phone had a call waiting for us. Leslie got 1 buzz, I got 2. Naturally we weren’t about to leave our rooms vacant so we showered in shifts!
Freshly clean, we pondered what to wear for our big evening and Leslie decided the time was right to shave her legs with her spiffy electric razor. Midway through the process, I heard two quick buzzes and my heart just about died. The dreaded phone call was for ME! I practically hit the floor and was clearly in a panic – have no idea what I said but it was clear to Leslie what I thought had happened. Immediately she started laughing hysterically and I decided that my new friend of a few weeks was decidedly sadistic.
I started for the door to go take the fatal phone call when she recovered and let me know that the buzzes I heard were from her electric razor! The relief I felt was instantaneous and fortunately I hadn’t yet put on mascara that could have been ruined by my tears.
The rest, as they say, is history – we showed up at the appointed time, all got our bids from Pi Phi and joined the sisters of the wine and silver blue.
