May 4, 2012 - Bumping into My College RA

Not only was she my resident advisor, but she was my suitemate.

When my roommate and I finally decided we were going to be roommates, we had a serious decision to make. For the true college experience, living in the dorms, and sharing a bathroom with 20 others is the norm, but frankly, not appealing. We chose the suites, off-campus, but sharing with 5-7 others seemed less daunting than 20+, and showering with flip flops was not enticing, at all. 

We ended up rooming with the RA... and two other gals from our hometown, telling anyone where we're from usually garners a couple of surprised and shocked blank looks. We have a sneaking suspicion to this day that they centralized the "problem" children. Next door to us were a room of guys, ALSO from our hometown....

Anyway, freshman year is a blur to me. I remember boys, and lots of them, would frequent our suite, often looking for our RA/suitemate, many a times for nothing more than to say "hello". We got to know a lot of people on our floor because of her. Most of the girls didn't care for her, probably because the boys had their attention elsewhere. Or at least that's my assumption, jealous of what they didn't understand. If you could see her, you'd understand. She's gorgeous, without the extra effort. 

I've been working for the University system, from which I graduated, for over 2 years now. I rarely, if ever, bump into anyone I grew up with, or went to school with, so when my RA was seated in front of the floor length windows right outside of my cubicle, I did everything to avoid her. I had no idea who she was. It was an odd location to place someone, unless for reasons of monitoring hall movement, so I went by most of the morning going in the opposite direction to avoid walking by her. I finally recognized her when I was forced to cross her path, going into my neighbor's cube that faced her chosen seating area. 

The moment I actually looked at her, without realizing, I was excited, and called out to her. Just as immediately as I had recognized her, she jumped up, and hugged me. It's been about 10 years now, and seeing her made me nostalgic. It's almost like no time has passed since I had last seen her, I behave around her exactly as I had, and the conversation, except for the bits where she or I catch each other up on our lives and career, hasn't changed.

"I've bumped into people here and there over the years, but you are the best bump in I've had." - SK

I miss college, only for the moments that have changed my life. She was definitely one of those.