The day for me to leave the nest had finally arrived. I had packed up my car, filled my tank with gas and was ready to go. Eastern New Mexico University allowed checking in on the Saturday before classes began. I wanted to leave on Saturday, but Mom talked me into going up on Sunday.
We did the usual family photographs with me standing by my car. I finally got to leave. I started on my way and got about 10 miles out of town. Suddenly, I got a flat tire.
This wasn't a big deal. At this point, I had experienced several flat tires and had been able to change them all by myself. However, I had a lot of difficulty getting the lug nuts off. I was eventually able to remove most of them, but there was this one that I couldn't get to turn. The nut was on really tight. I think the last time I got tires, a very powerful air compressor was used to put them on and that's why I was having such a hard time. I was about to give up, walk to the nearest house (I was in the farming community at the time) and call my Dad. It was the last thing I wanted to do on the first day of my independence.
As I started down the road, someone pulled off in front of me. It was someone I sort of knew. In the car was a girl I went to high school with (who was also going to ENMU). She was with her parents, her brother (who was a friend of my brother) and their cousin, who I knew from choir when I was a sophomore. They were on their way to church. The father tried to give me a hand, but he also wasn't able to get the nut off, despite putting a penny in the tire iron.
After a few minutes, another car pulled up in front of us. This guy had also just gotten a flat tire, but he didn't have any of his tire changing equipment with him. However, he worked at a garage and he said that if the father could give him a ride there, he would bring the shop's truck back and they'd be able to get the nut off for me. They then left.
I don't remember how long I waited, but the guy and one of his co-workers did return with the truck and they changed the tire for me. I was very grateful to be up and running again without having to turn to my parents for help.
The rest of the drive to Portales was uneventful. I pulled into the parking lot outside Lincoln Hall, where my dorm room was. I was on the second floor in room 217. I checked in, got the key and started taking stuff upstairs. Prior to my arrival, I had received a notice of who my roommate was going to be. I guess he had chosen me when he showed up the second weekend of pre-registration. All I knew about him was that his name was Tood and he was from Texas. I wondered when he was going to show up.
I ran into Bard and the girl he picked up at pre-registration. He said they were going to McDonald's to eat and I should join them after I was done putting stuff in my room. I walked down the street and caught up with them. We hung out for awhile. I returned to my room, but there was no sign of my roommate.
That night, I met some new people at the co-ed dorm, Eddy Hall, and hung out in someone's room. There was about ten of us gathered. We were all getting to know each other and did some serious talking about various issues. I actually felt like I was experiencing what it meant to be in college.
The next couple of days were a whirlwind of complete freedom as I was able to go anywhere and do anything that I pleased with no one to tell me otherwise. I frequently hung out with some of the new people I met. The bad thing was coming to the realization that, "Oh, wait. We have to start going to classes on Wednesday."
Late Monday afternoon, they held the "Freshman Follies." It was a series of games. We were separated into groups of ten and competed against each other. The winning group would get T-shirts that said "ENMU Freshman Follies 1982." One of the contests involved us tying a rope around our team, with a girl riding on the shoulders of the largest male of our group. I was up in front. As we crossed the finish line, I saw someone taking a photograph of us. I was certain I would see that photo in the college yearbook. However, I was wrong. But it did appear in a university recruitment brochure the next year. Our team did not win the Follies.
I finally met my roommate that night. It was after 11:00 and he was already in bed. He woke up, quickly shook my hand and went back to sleep.
Tuesday was the day I had to pay for my tuition and expenses for the semester. I had to write out a check for more than a thousand dollars. I couldn't believe I had that much money in the bank and I had to turn it all over to the school.
I was all set for my first day of classes. I'll go into detail about that Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment