I have enjoyed getting reconnected with friends through Facebook. I've especially enjoyed reconnecting with friends from my college days. It's fun to get reacquainted and caught up on almost 30 years of news since the last time I saw these people who meant so much to me long ago.
One of these friends is Mary—a musician and fellow concert choir member in the early 80s. Yes, that would be the early days of the Reagan administration. The infancy of the personal computer. Before cell phones, before DVDs, before MP3s—even before CDs. We used to listen to music by rubbing a needle on a piece of vinyl. Weird stuff. But I digress.
I have recently become reacquainted with my friend Mary from those days when we were just beginning to form our theology, philosophy, and politics. And as we have gotten reacquainted I have been reminded of why Mary (okay, she was Mary Lou back then) was my friend in school—she's a fascinating and very intelligent person with a unique ability to make others think.
And so, I have asked Mary to contribute to this blog. I hope you'll find her as fascinating as I always have. And I hope she'll make you think, just as she makes me think.
So without further rambling, I introduce you to my friend, Mary Fuller.
I used to have a version of that '80s hair! I like this Mary Fuller already!
ReplyDeleteHey, Cool! I enjoyed reading your testimony of faith, Mary.
ReplyDeleteI knew Mary when she was Mary Lou, too. I'm proud to say she was my roommate for a year in college, and what she put _up_ with! :-) It'll be great to see you blogging on here with Rich, Mary!
ReplyDeleteHey, I'd forgotten all about those 80's coats with the scarf on the outside. What was the deal with the scarf? I never thought about that before. I mean, it didn't keep one's neck warm, because it was on the outside of the coat collar. Were you supposed to take it off and actually wear it around your neck? It's funny how you don't think about these deep clothing questions until twenty years later...
Thank you simplegifts -- it's great to remember these things. God is still working to transform me to the image of His Son, and looking back lets me know He can accomplish the work He began in me.
ReplyDeleteLydia, those were good times, and I missed you for a long time afterward!! My only consolation was that I got another great roommate a few years later ;) And the scarf -- it came with the coat which kept me warm, and it always had a place to hang. If I got cold, it was there. But hey, did it ever get cold enough for a scarf in Clarks Summit??? (Choke, choke, gasp...)
I have described to my wife how cold it got in Clark Summit, PA, when the winds swept up the mountain sides and came together in a rush of frigid temperature seemingly right at the walkway from my dorm to the Cafetorium. I remember the humidity in my nose freezing from the extreme cold - so much so that if I squeezed my nose it crackled.
ReplyDeleteBut then, I'm from Virginia so anything below about 50 degrees seems really cold to me.
Yeah, I remember when Dr. Mark Jackson used to order the girls to wear PANTS!! It would be so cold he wanted our legs covered. Most of us had figured out already, though, the knee boots and wool skirts were the way to go.
ReplyDeleteI lost more than one umbrella to the wretched winds on the top of that hill, and winter winds were so biting that no amount of layering could keep the chill from reaching your bones and chilling you for several minutes after you'd stepped into a warm building.
Many of us would have liked to have used King David's Warmer to ward off the chill, but BBC didn't allow public display of affection, so we had to find alternate ways of staying warm...
I don't know if I just have a short memory or if I was really tougher years ago (probably both), but I scarcely remember being bothered in my youth by extremes of cold and heat that would drive me absolutely crazy now. For instance, I know it must have been just as you say at BBC, but I don't remember thinking about it one way or another. Weird.
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