On August 25, Lila and I went to Salem to be an alumnae (and future student) presence for move-in day! She wore her sweet Salem shirt and was in a sassy mood of course! We arrived early, and greeted students, parents and staff members. After we hung out at the tent for awhile, we took a walk with Monique down to Gramley. Ah Gramley, my old stomping grounds for two years. Where I first lived as a college freshman, and again when I moved rooms as a freshman, and once again as a sophomore. That place is so full of memories for me I'm not sure how it doesn't burst. So much has changed (the key card system, the way the lobby is designed, the furniture) and so much is exactly the same (the smell of the stairwell, the old carpet and doors you can see as you walk down any hall way). Now they have A/C window units on each floor to keep a little air moving, and the rest of the college has central air. I can't even talk about that.
In an instant, it all came flooding back. Meeting Jen Pounders with her fish cinder blocks. Meeting my roommate in real life for the first time. "Man on the hall". Standing with Susan as we were separated into orientation groups. The excitement and sheer terror that comes from moving into a place, not knowing how it's all going to turn out. And then the fun. The late nights in the hall. The trips to the club. The Christmas party, complete with Christmas in the bathtub portraits. The friendships, and the memories I hope will last my lifetime.
When we walked out of Gramley (after seeing all three of my rooms!), imagine my surprise to find that Lila bean had cut her first tooth! Right there in front of Gramley, my home for two years, the place I hope she lives in 18 years. When we took a walk in between Gramley and Babcock and I got my first look at Babcock "beach" in years, I was overwhelmed. Here came the memories of meeting Sara and Cassels for the first time, slowly navigating my way through those first days of classes hearing about this girl named Lizard. And then the memories of the people I'd come to know later in college, who I didn't know that well because they lived in Babcock as freshmen.
There is a giant piece of my heart that Salem will always have, and it seems to shatter into a million pieces whenever I step onto that campus. I want to be back. I want to stop every girl I see, and tell her how lucky she is to be there. I want to tell her what to do, what not to do, and then I want to stop myself...because I want her to figure it all out for herself. Mostly, I want her to love it as much as I do when she's back on campus, eight years after she graduates, twelve years after she first set foot there.
Do I want Lila to go there? Of course I do. But like her mom, she'll make her own choices. People ask, how do you know it will be the same when she's a college freshman? Well I know. I know because of the alums I know from the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, my sister classes above and below me, the girls I recruited and the girls I know now. I know because Salem is special, and it always will be. Even if traditions come and go, new buildings are erected and professors retire, it will always be special. And if you weren't a Salem girl, there isn't really a way to explain it to you, other than the two ways the C'04 can...
You think you know, but you have no idea.
In the end, I want to be standing at the beginning with you.
