It Began in Ewing Hall

When we walked into Ewing Hall we already had lots in common –
  • Petite, ‘big city’ girls with strange toes, who loved broadway shows, shopping, sunbathing with our water spray bottles and boys.
  • Both our moms always looked perfect – coordinated with never a hair or scarf out of place.
  • And our birthdays just 4 days apart – of course you were the older one.

We survived:

  • Registration at Rec Hall with its lines and class cards,
  • Sharing a phone in the hall with 7 other girls,
  • American Chop Suey
  • Mock Drum Sticks
  • Ride sheets with strangers, and
  • Blue book exams.

We discovered the power of the centrifugal extractor.
We enjoyed all the taste sensations in Happy Valley:

  • Hi-way Pizza,
  • ‘Phosphates’ in the Hub,
  • Grilled sticky buns at the NCD,
  • Corned beef specials at the Lodge, and of course,
  • the Creamery’s best ice cream.

Besides classes (why did a Consumer Studies major need to take Organic Chemistry?) We found time for:

  • Sit-ins on the Old Main lawn
  • Watching football and gymnastics
  • Jammies,
  • Beer Surfing,
  • Colloquy,
  • Spring Week
  • Painting sets for Thespian shows in the Schwab Auditorium loft. (Envying Arthur’s legs)

We resisted the lure of sororities, and found time to party: Beta Sig, TEP, ADPi, etc.
After we turned 21, no Phyrst for us, we preferred drinking Strawberry Hill at the Scorpion with Erica who?
After graduation Carol went off to Orbach’s in NY while I went to Philadelphia and we adopted each other’s parents and went off to seek our fortunes.
We’ll always remember:

  • the Webster Hotel and its Beau Parlors, it really made a fourth floor walk-up on the upper East side look wonderful.
  • Walking the length of the St. Patricks Day Parade.
  • Changing trains at Yankee Stadium at midnight.
  • Learning to ride a bike.

We’ve been there for each other through good and bad romances and marriages:

  • Fixing me up with the guy who looked like Alfred E Newman, but cute.
  • Letting me marry the wrong guy and standing by me when I came to my senses.
  • You dating cousin Fred, Ed-Weird, and the wrong David.
  • Finally you met the right David and I was so happy to see you walk down the aisle.

Then came Rachel and Sara, the 3 great joys in your life, adding Brad and now your newest love, Maya.
I’ve cherished getting together to celebrate New Years and Birthdays.

  • Seeing shows – like “Les Miserables”, “Bring Back Birdie” (so what if it didn’t open), “My One and Only” with Tommy Tune and Twiggy.
  • The NC Symphony
  • Parties in Crofton, Wilmington and Durham
  • Bette Midler in Las Vegas
  • Floating boobs in West Virginia spa
  • Shopping at the Mall of America, Tysons I and II in one day, outlet malls.
  • Visiting the National Gallery of Art and the Holocaust Museum
  • Watching an Indian wedding one day and a Jewish wedding the next.
  • And I won’t forget getting a speeding ticket after getting lost in Anacostia en route to “Beehive”.

Here’s to my very dear friend with the killer abs and biceps:

  • the only one I know who is disciplined enough to be thinner now than she was in college,
  • who reminds me to exercise to help cope with stress,
  • the angel who helped empty my drains,
  • the sister I was supposed to have.

    Lots of love,
    Lois

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