1995

1995 started my second semester ar Ricks. I moved in to the same bedroom with Marianne and that was a turn around with my roommates and I. Marianne's boyfriend left for his mission and she and I became like best friends. I even went home with her one weekend and got to know her family. One of our other roommates was her twin sister Marilyn. Marilyn started dating a boy from her dance class and they ended up getting married over the summer.

After the semester was over Marianne and I moved into another apartment (since ours were used for the snowbirds/sunbirds during the summer) and attended summer school. I got a job with the gardens on campus. At first I was just the water girl. I went in during the weekends and sometimes during the week and watered the greenhouses. But during the summer they also put me on the garden crew. I enjoyed that job and discovered I like gardening.

One of my favorite classes during the summer was geology. I became friends with a group of girls and we hung out during our labs and our field trips. One had been a cheerleader and was recovering from an eating disorder. Her parents had pulled her out of school the year before to get her help and she was catching up and another girl was deaf but could read lips. She taught me a little bit of sign language. She and I also took the same art class the next summer session and we sat near the front so she could read the teacher's lips and so he often picked on us.

I was going to attend all three sessions of summer school but Marianne moved out after one session (she graduated) and so I got another new roommate. Several of my new roommates were either engaged or not around much so I never really got close to many of them. After two sessions I started to get home sick. I quit my job and moved home for a break.

That fall I moved to the same complex from my first semester. I got a job as an RA for the apartments and was over the building I lived in the previous year and some of my old roommates. I lived in a different building and had some great roommates. There was three of us sophomores and three freshman. The two other sophomores were friends from the year before and the three freshman were friends from high school. I once again lived with total strangers. I found that was easier since I seen friendships ruined by being roommates. I roommated with one of the freshman and she had the most annoying alarm clock that she never got up for. I bonded right away with all my roommates and we had lots of fun.

Susan dated Chuck off and on all semester but was determined to go on a mission but finally accepted his marriage proposal. We told her if she didn't one of us would since he was the sweetest guy. He brought us all roses once. And he would have done anything for us.

The rest of us didn't have any boyfriends and so we often would group date to the girl choice dances. I got asked out once at Ricks, that was it, so all my dating was by me asking them.

I took a dance class. Really enjoyed it even if the guys were really lame. This is what I mean. There were two guys in there that I soon discovered danced well with me so I would always choose them if it was my turn to choose and they would generally choose me. One was one of my FHE brothers. He and I did a lot of the test together since it was easy for us to get together and practice. Well, he suddenly decided he didn't want to do the final with me. The other guy had already picked a girl to do it with so I was stuck with a guy I barely ever danced with through the semester. I didn't do that well on the final (still got an A in the class though because of the other dance tests) and neither did my FHE brother who ended up dancing with a girl he hardly ever danced with. One of the last guy choice dances that semester he asked my roommate to the dance. While they were out he told my roommate he didn't ask me to be his partner because he thought I had a crush on him and didn't want to give me the wrong signal. I did have a crush on someone but it wasn't him. I didn't have a crush on any of the guys in my dance class.

I became really good friends with one of my FHE brothers, Kyle. One of my FHE sisters had a crush on him and so she and I doubled to one of the dances and she took him. He was just the nicest guy. Right after Thanksgiving when we were all back at school for the two weeks until Christmas break (Kyle was going to be leaving on a mission and wouldn't be back after Christmas) we were at a church activity when Kyle was called out of the room by the bishop. He never came back. The bishop came in to announce that Kyle's brother had been killed in a car wreck on his mission and Kyle would be going home. My roommates and FHE sisters rushed over to his dorm. We couldn't go up to his room but he came down to say goodbye. We all hugged him and cried with him. He did come back for the last few days of the semester to say goodbye to everyone. He and I kept in contact for a little while and then some years later I ran into him at USU. I was sitting on a couch reading and suddenly he plopped down next to me and asked if I remembered him. Of course I did and it was fun to catch up with him.