What is going on?

Some mysterious things began to happen during the summer. I became so moody that my 3 favorite people in the world were feeling the effects of my explosive hormonal spout offs. It was not pretty.

• I remember getting so sick one night after being out in the sun all day branding at Conger's with Wayne and Andy. I thought I was dying. I called my mom telling her my head hurt so bad inside and out, like there was a bruise, I had chills and thought I was going to throw up, only those symptoms can not even begin to describe how I felt. I seriously thought I was dying and needed to go to the ER. I could not settle down. Eventually I passed out. This day was one to remember after all. 

• Another time Carrie, Wayne, Andy and I had gone out boating with some other friends on her family's boat. I had tubed on my stomach and had belly flopped into the water, skied and sipped a margarita on the beach (yes that is legal on SD beaches). I remember telling Carrie in the car on the way back that I was cramping and should't be. She just gave me some weird look. Later she reminded me of this day and said she knew what was up. 

• I told Sonya and Wayne not to cut Wayne's hair while I was at work at the child care center, I would do it when I got back, and whoever did it DO NOT SHAVE IT! Shaved white heads freak me out. I came home from work and there was this ugly bald freakish looking head and I flipped. I threw Michael's shoe at it. Hind site says this was not such a fabulous reaction, however the first time you experience these hormonal rages you have no idea whatsoever as to what is going down. I thought I was rationalizing fine, turns out Wane almost walked away. He reconsidered and so did I. 

• Later on when Andy Borah, Wayne and I had gone down to Holdrege (during the Andy & Tiff <3 era) for a family reunion, I was showering one morning and they took off. I flipped out again and wouldn't even ride with them to the hour away reunion, turns out they had gone to get McDonalds breakfast. I eventually felt bad when my hormonal high subsided. 

If you were to ask Wayne, Andy Carrie or Sonya, I am sure there were many other incidents however these two stick out as the highly irrational ones.

Camping at Harry's Trunk Lake

Fastest camp tear down ever!
Tornado spotted!

Buckle Up! We're CHASING!

Flanking Line of Storm

Aftermath of Tornado in Holbrook

Before I knew what was actually going on Sonya and I had gone home for father's day and went jet-skiing, storm chasing an actual tornado, through inflatable obstacle courses and down steep fast slides. It wasn't until I began to feel a bit ill at the end of June that I began to suspect something could actually be happening this time. I made an appointment with my hometown doctor's office and made a long weekend out of it. I was to meet Wayne, Sonya and Andy at Lake Mac by Ogallala on the 2nd after my appointment. We were camping on the beach and had the whole 4th weekend planned out with jet-skiing, tubing, skiing, sand volleyball, fireworks, the works.

During the appointment there were suspicions and the doctor ordered some lab work. The results were not in by the time I was set to go so mom had me call.

I had a nice 2 hour drive to Lake Mac to unwind my thoughts before meeting up with the gang. Once I got there I had Wayne jump in with me. He was reluctant and kept telling me to yell across the cars. FINALLY he climbed in. I put his hand on my stomach and said "THERE"S YOUR KID".




His face was priceless.



Pure excitement. He immediately told Andy as soon as the car was stopped. And I told Sonya. Our 2 besties.

and so it began......

The Trailer

Schwarty & Michael making casserole before lightning strike.

We began looking and decided to take on a roommate. Tom Perks from Bartly, NE; one of the few non-education majors….but one of the “other types” at CSC, Ag- Management or similar….I believe he is a Park Ranger or something in WY now. He was an original Edna Hall boy before Edna Hall boys were all moved into Andrews, Kent and High Rise so Edna could be remodeled. He was a shy and quiet guy from the class of 2003. He didn’t party and had no girlfriend at the time. He was also part of the same group we hung out in. He was the perfect choice, except for he was going home to Bartly for the summer. We decided to take on another roomie who would be going back to the dorms or in with someone else at the end of the summer. His name was Justin Schwarting from Rushville, NE I believe. AND GET THIS!!!!! He was neither major! We are talking a RARITY here! He was into some sort of Biology or something. His workstudy job was classifying bugs, particularly butterflies and dragonflies …… whoa!

Michael eating hail off floor by patio.

After looking at nearly every available rental at the time in Chadron, we decided on Redwood or Regency (depending on the entrance you used) Trailor Court (I SWORE I’D NEVER!!!!!!) But there we were. It was actually the biggest place we looked at. The last one was out by those ponds and had a really really steep drive out to the highway that Wayne said our vehicles would never make all winter. Then the one before that was 20 yards from the landlords house out in the country and had lots of dogs running around. The only other one I remember being available was in the north trailer park and that one had lots and lots of minorities with bad rep’s (to put it nicely).  There were absolutely NO APARTMENTS in Chadron for rent. I mean there were like 2 or 3 complexes but they were all low income and you had to have kids to even apply for them and then it was over a year wait to get in.

trees down 2 trailers down after big storm

Redwood #68 had been previously rented by one of the 5 other people from Holdrege who had gone to college in Chadron and she had been a ball girl with me for volleyball back in 5^th grade.  Ironic.

Turns out she didn’t get out by the date she was supposed to, the landlord didn’t clean up when she moved out and had us do it (absolutely discusting! Mold in Tom’s bathtub and toilet, dog food under the sink, bugs!!!!! I about had it right then, Wane took care of it though). Then she left her broken down 37 county (Phelps- Holdrege) there and it eventually was towed away. Then turns out my name was never put on the paperwork because it would have jacked up the rent to have 3 people verse 2. The landlord was such a jerk! Other than all these fiascos for my first home, it was the best place available at the time.

Dog Pile on futon in living room.

Tom had the back bedroom toward the edge of the park by the highway. It had a bathroom which had a door to the hallway and a door to his room. There was a laundry “closet” with no doors, so more of an alcove. Then the kitchen was one long counter with the sink and stove and oven and pantry all along it. The dishwasher was broken and the landlord just said “yep, it’s broken.” Then across from it there was the tiniest little blue fridge. Oh and the dryer didn’t work so we had the landlord come get it, and we hauled Wayne’s down from his home in Rapid that he sold. Then when we moved out the landlord was like “where’s the dryer,  (darrrr).” What a winner. We had duct tape over a sparking outlet and 2x3’ patch of linoleum was put in the master bath where the fore mentioned girl had fallen through! Neighbors told us that one.

In our master bedroom scrapbooking. 

Back to the positive, there was a HUGE dining area on an upraised platform which fit both a full dining room table and the foosball table (commercial grade like you find in a bar, no mini rec one). Then we had our computers in the back quarter of the huge living room. Next came a futon, a couch and 2 chairs followed by scrapbook shelves and an entertainment center all in the living room. That was nice. We fit lots of people in there.

Then we had the master bedroom/closet/bathroom with his and hers everything. It also had this extra room which wasn’t really a porch because it was all indoor, but it really wasn’t a room either because it was freezing in the winter and scorching in the summer. We ended up hanging  heavy blanket over it and putting our deep freeze, Tom’s fridge, and all sorts of storage, then our 1^st Christmas tree all out there.

It also had a nice deck, a fenced in yard, and a shed out back (which is still there even though the trailer isn’t).

Hail in entry room w/freezers & fridge.

Hail on deck looking like snow.

Sonya & Michael lived with us there for a couple of months and she had a fling with “Shwarty (shorty)”. One night while Wayne was at work and I was headed to a meeting for work there was this HUGE thunderstorm and the entire town was flooding. A semi was trapped on the highway through town, I ended up turning around and going back home. As I am half a block away there was a BLINDING WHITE FLASH AND DEAFENING LOUD CRACK. Yeah, no power, things smoking and buzzing. Lightning struck the trailer! I called Wayne home since none of the rest of us technically “lived” there. He called the landlord, who never showed up but did call the power company for us. We hung out at the neighbor’s house for a couple hours.

We held some killer parties there. We also got huge news while we lived there……

SPRING BREAK OR BUST!!!!!!

Things were still a little gruff between us when we started planning spring break with a group of friends from the dorms and from Hot Springs. We solidified 5 of us for the trip. Everyone knows an odd number is no good, but we needed all the $ pitched in that we could get. We didn’t have enough to do anything extravagant like Mexico but we wanted somewhere none of us (most of us) had been and somewhere that all of us could legally drink so we decided on CANADA, eh.

Filling Cooler W/ Snow

I was the youngest at 18, so we had to pick a province where I could legally drink (heeello, spring break), Manitoba it was. It was a little further away then a couple of the others but nothing inconceivable. We made reservations and devised a plan. Wayne’s parents were going to fish sit for our fish and Carrie’s. We used Chuck’s credit card to reserve the hotels. We picked one with a waterslide within walking distance of a few bars and casinos.

Wane and I and Carrie who was from Hot Springs and a fellow ELED major at CSC, then Chuck (former owner of the SoCo and singer of The Dance) also an Ed major at CSC, and last but not least, Andy Borah, worker at Frank’s (mechanic and gas station in Hot Springs) and best bud to all, were among the 5.

We headed out from Hot Springs on Friday and drove the whole way there the first night. Well Wane and Andy took turns driving and the rest of us weren’t allowed, for some reason. Carrie and I saw buffalo in the treetops and the lights of Winnavegas were bright and it was a rather good time getting there with lots of singing and lots of cappuccinos.

We checked into our hotel early the next morning. After napping we went swimming and made long trains going down the water signs despite the signs not to. We snacked on junk food nearly the entire time and drank margaritas like we were south, not north. At night we went clubbing. We ended up leaving Chuck at one bar after telling him it was time to go twice and then saying we were going out in the parking lot to wait for him. He ended up lying about going to the bathroom and being right out and ordered another drink. We gave him 10 minutes before walking back to the hotel. He was none to pleased about this and still isn’t to this day, bringing it up on the anniversary of the trip every 2-3 years.

One night we ordered Andy 3 Wisemen on a Turkey Hunt at the bar in our hotel. He warned us that tequila and him didn’t get long but we pushed him to do it anyway as all best friends do. Almost instantly he ralphed all over Carrie’s coat. He kept right on trooping though. When we headed back to the room we swore he was right behind us but when we got there he wasn’t there. Carrie went looking for him and found him down some other hall.

The people next door to us one night absolutely hated us and knocked on our door to tell us so. Of course they probably caught quite the site. I faintly remember laughing as someone yanked me back in the room by the swimsuit tie, which didn’t remain tied.

We had a run in with a bum. All the bums up there seemed to own bikes. It was weird. They rode all over even though it was covered in snow. While waiting for a cab to take us across town to a casino a bum approached us and asked “if we could spare some coffee”. Our good ‘ol Andy Borah just couldn’t comprehend this.

“Well no, I don’t have any coffee, but there is some right inside and I am sure they’d give you some if you ask.”

The bum got all sorts of heated at this. “I know there’s coffee inside, I am asking for some change to go buy some you ….. All you have to say is NOOO, I can spell it for you N-O, noooooo.”

Borah was baffled, he didn’t know what the heck had happened and was all sorts of confused. Then the bum turned on Wayne and started chewing on him. Wayne told him to move on stinkin’ bum. He rode off cussing us out. Cracks us up to this day.

Carrie & I with some pro soccer team.

Then the cab driver wouldn’t let anyone sit in front so we had to make 2 trips and double pay. AND he took us all around town the long way to make it cost more. He looked some sort of foreign and had an accent to match. Carrie, Chuck and I got bored and started singing the Angry American along with the radio, probably part of the problem. It was an expensive ride, and then we lost more $ at the casino, or I did. But we took the bus back so that was cheaper.

We left the maids a lot of alcohol in the mini fridge as a tip because you could only take so much back across the border. We hit up a Canadian McDonalds before heading out and then stopped at a border store and souvenired it up on the way out.

We only went part way home this time. We stopped in Billing, North Dakota at a friend from Hot Springs, Jennifer Nelson’s. I remember walking to Taco Bell and getting there 5 minutes before close and asking for food likes asses. Then Wayne kicks all of us but Carrie out for a couple hours while they chat….wth?

Next thing I know he is back out, and finally not being a jerk anymore. Apparently they had been having a heart to heart about his and my relationship and he had finally come to a decision as to what he really wanted.

GREAT…this will be a fun rest of the ride home. He had been testing it all week an now he does this and has “made a decision.”  That is just GREAT!

To my surprise he admitted he had been trying to push me away and run me off as he had been scared about getting too serious. He said it took him a while to get over it, but he thought he had and was now ready to take the next step. He said he could see spending the rest of his life with me and that he wanted me to think about that. Later on after leaving Hot Springs and traveling down to Nebraska to spend some time with my family before Spring Break was over he asked if I would move into an apartment or somewhere with him for the summer and the upcoming school year!

WOW where did all of this come 

from? I don’t know but I didn’t hesitate long before going with it. 

Bring it on!!!!!!

That night it was easy to see what choice I was going to make. Despite the dork in the background singing Garth Brooks, I had already made my choice back in November and though things were a little rocky for a while, I am so grateful for the patient and understanding man who put up with me while I sorted it all out.

After that I made Wayne formally ask me to date him and we made a commitment to be exclusive and not let anyone come between us again, buuuut, then a few weeks later when we were getting pretty serious, it was his turn to make it complicated with that male ego pressured by his bachelor buddies to cut the leash and not commit.

He was trying all those subtle guy ways of getting me to get fed up with him and leave. I had even been staying a few nights back in my own dorm room despite that most of my stuff now resided in his room.

Part of me wanted to bail like he wanted me too, but the other part of me wasn’t willing to give up what we had the past few months. I had long ago abandoned most of the other friendships I had made first semester and would be starting over, square one. I didn’t even have a roommate anymore! She had moved in with a sophomore in another dorm complex. Kent hall was a lot of fun though and I was sure it wouldn’t be hard to get back in with the girls on 3^rd floor. And I still hadn’t perused the cowboys yet.

But I really liked him….

I decided I could play this game too. I decided to make him squirm. If he wanted out, I was not going to make it that easy for him. I was going to make him end it. So there!

Bring it on! 

Complicated…

Wayne Guy & I spoke almost daily over break despite Christmases and New Years parties and hanging out with family and friends. Though I’d like to say that everything went fine and we reunited after break like nothing had changed, it had. 

That ex of mine did show up, a few times. Once to redeem his invite to my cousin's wedding, once on New Year's showing his true colors yet again, then when he could tell it wasn't going his way, he had his own plans of how to try to keep me in his life. He decided to pack everything up and move to Chadron! He followed me back up there, literally. This presented complications to say the least. Wayne decided to be nice about it and help him move in and let him hang out with US for the remaining week before classes started.  AWKWARD!

I now felt in the middle of the two of them and this went on for a couple of weeks until one weekend when things came to a head. I was having a good time with Wayne and my new Hot Springs friends when this ex came around. He was being all right for a while then all of a sudden as Wayne is assisting me, as the inebriated one for once, this ex comes flying in and attacks him!

Now you have to understand my ex was about a third the size of Wayne. One being scrawny twig; the other going from all-star athlete, to UW wrestling, to Menards lifting crew, to then. Not much of a match if you ask me. Wayne kept his cool though and just said, “BORAH.” Andy came in and stuck his foot in the door and watched while Chuck (owner of previously mentioned SoCo and ex Edna Hall boy as well) stood back and sang The Dance, presuming all was about to be over ….

Why Wayne Guy?

For many reasons. This even became the topic of my dad’s wedding toast to us and remains a favorite story of his. He will even answer the phone “Hello Mrs. Guy,” once in a while.

Why I chose him over the many other suitors that semester and even over the prior relationship from back home runs deeper than why he is referred to as Wayne Guy. Those reasons can be imagined, explained and obvious even, so lets go with the story of Wayne Guy…..

Around the time I was not coming home with the Holdrege/Minden/North Platte carpool every weekend my parents began to wonder, (while really I am sure they were doing backflips as they had tried many things over the years to encourage staying away from my prior relationship). They had been there for multiple attempts at breaking up with the last guy who just kept showing up when he found out I was in town and had prayed for someone new to come along. They were less than subtle in showing their sincerest gratitude of this when I called home one night and talked to my dad about this Wayne Guy.

I told my dad of this guy who’d been hanging out with the girls and I. I explained how he was from Hot Springs, SD and was in the class of 2000. He was of course going to be a teacher, but in math (dad’s major once upon a time). Finally dad asked well what’s this Wayne guy’s last name?

“uuuuuuh……”

I honestly couldn’t say it. I knew it, I had heard it and seen it in writing, but I just couldn’t say it. There were so many ways to pronounce it and while I didn’t want to be wrong, I had also gone over every possible pronunciation in my head, phonetically and otherwise until they all ran together into an indecipherable mess.

I told my dad as much with a couple attempts that ended in blablablablah. I gave up and said, “just Wayne Guy.”

Turns out it is pretty phonetic. Ton Saw Grrrrrrr  J

And so you have it.

Date Night....

Date Night….

About a week later and a week before finals I had decided I was not going home before finals as I had been told if it snows and you do not make it back for finals, too bad, so sad, see you again next semester. I was again in search of some fun in Chadron. I was babysitting my baby cousin Sawyer Friday night and decided we needed to cook something up for the rest of the weekend. I had done the house parties, fun and all but the last one I had gone to the police showed up at and I just really don’t like police run-ins. Plus I had done my share of partying in high school and didn’t care to get drunk off my ass as much anymore. I called Sheri to see what she was doing and asked if she knew that Wayne guy’s number and if we should ask him to do something with us. The previously mentioned stink eye giving girl must have been gone as she was Sheri’s friend and Sheri didn’t seem to think there would be a problem calling him up. She did a 3 way call and we decided on bowling for some reason….again, Chadron in 2003 didn’t have many options, (it was pre “Hide-a-Minor” bar.)

The next night we were all accumulating in room two-whatever and turned out Wayne Guy was a Mathlete and was helping one of the girls with their math. Ugggg. “So what’s your major, math or something?” I asked, thinking what a nerd.

“Well, I was a Chemical Engineer major at my last 2 colleges, but now I am going for Math teacher,” was his response.

Of course he was going to be a teacher, was there anything besides teachers and Ag Management at CSC? He didn’t wear cowboy cut Wranglers so that put him in the teacher category. But Chemical Engineer, whatever that meant, sounded important and definitely nerdy. Normally nerds and SoCo don’t go together but had I found 2 in a row? Hmmmmm.

Well, whatever, I thought, lets just go do something before I transfer to UNL! ….Okay, that might be a little extreme, I LOVE my mountains and cowboys too much to turn back now, but there has got to be more to do around here. I am about to resort to cow tipping and hay bail jumping.

Finally we piled in this tiny little beat up Mazda pick-up that resembled a tin can, and sounded like you were inside of one too. Sheri hopped in the middle and I sat on the freezing passenger side. Driving to the bowling alley she flirted aimlessly with him. Nice. My idea, my choice, your help, you snatching. Really not worried, just amused, again. So I let my mind wonder…there was that guy from speech that was incredibly hot who had came by my dorm a while back, then there was the one from Crawford who was a heck of a lot of fun and reminded me of an old Kearney friend. If tonight sucks, I will look one of them up before break.

What the hell?!?! The bowling alley is closed, and SERIOUSLY did I just hear “let’s go to Wal-Mart?” Uggggg. “Yeah Sheri, maybe you could buy Kate and Leopold, I think Wayne wanted to see the rest of it.” I said frustrated.

Wayne, “That’s all right…”

My mind started to wonder again. There was that guy Dorr that pole-vaulted, I bought Photoshop from him, more because I liked him and didn’t want to actually download it myself, nor did I know how to do it without getting busted. He was fun to play Jenga with that night. And then there was Jeff, Lexi was such a bisnatch to him, but I think he was dating Julie now and they are totally perfect for each other. Nawww, time to paruse the cowboys.

We pulled up to Wal-Mart and started across the parking lot. My boredom took over and my goofy crazy kicked in. I was putting on goofy clothes and sitting on video rockers on the shelves and bouncing balls down the isles. The others quit scolding and joined in. Of course I had my camera with as always and we began to take a couple of pics. I think Sheri did buy another movie of some sort and we headed back to the truck.

“There is a bike horn on your truck?” I asked.

“Yeah, in South Dakota the law states you have to have a working horn, but it doesn’t say what kind,” says Wayne Guy.

Interesting nerdy smart-ass who drinks SoCo.

This time I jumped in the middle, pissed Sheri off! What can I say; he is kinda fun and intriguing.

That set the tone for the rest of the night back at room two-something. I dialed an old friend who I’d introduced Sheri to and they talked for hours while Wayne guy and I talked and gave each other one of the 3 backrubs of our relationship and ate some Ramen noodles and chatted for hours.

We all passed out in room two-something that night. I was first and only up and out the door to class the next morning. I thought for sure the girls would be up and he would be gone when I got back an hour later, but they weren’t and he wasn’t and we made plans for later that night!

Every night that week we spent together and I even spent a few days extra in Chadron until I got to missing my babies I nannyed for the previous 2 years back home and cancelled a trip to his home town (and Evans Plunge) and drove on home hoping that it would not end things that were turning out great between us…

SoCo & Urinal blessed gifts….

Turns out this Wayne guy came around again, this time to my room, a couple weeks later with a bottle of Sothern Comfort that one of his fellow Edna Hall boys had tried to bring over a few nights before. Only Wayne Guy was already a third of the way through the bottle, posse at his side after curfew for males in the girls’ wing. They were loud, very LOUD and eventually I let them in before we all got in trouble.  Wayne guy stumbled across the hall and used the girls bathroom, formally a male restroom complete with urinals we had “blessed” the first week of class with plants and poems and unwritten guy code for the use of public restrooms. When Wayne Guy came stumbling back he had proclaimed his thoughtfulness through “bringing me a gift, but don’t touch the wet leaves.” Thanks so much, we’ll just set this up here (on Lexi’s bed, sorry Lexi I don’t think we were getting long at this point, it really did smell too).

Next thing I know there are some RA’s knocking on the door next to mine. They said they had received a noise complaint and wanted to be sure nothing was going on. See, her name next door was Candace as well and she was from Kearney, ironically. Most of the drunk boys kept hidden and quiet just in case the RA’s came to my door, but we turned everything and the lights off and locked the door. Chuck, (owner of the SoCo originally hoping to win me over into a relationship – I mean seriously?) good ole’ Chuck, he was so paranoid that we nearly had to tackle him and hold his mouth shut to keep him from bolting out the room. In fact someone may have done just that. As son as those RA’s were done flirting with other Candace and down the hall around the corner, Chuck bolted down the opposite corner not to be seen again. Awesome, down to 2 drunken boys to get rid of before the RA’s came back.

To keep the noise down I pulled my new chick flick Kate and Leopold out and turned all the lights off again in hopes they might pass out. YEAH…within in minutes Wayne Guy was OUT. But the other one, Jed or Jeb, whatever, was annoying and persistent. What a creep.  Finally after kicking Wayne Guy a few times he stirred, rolled over and flung his arms across me… better than Jeb. Jeb finally deterred left.

Okay…now what to do about Wayne Guy.

As soon as Jeb was out the door and down the hall I flicked on the lights. What do you know; Wayne Guy pops up and starts bouncing around again. Come on! He starts talking non-stop and a million miles a minute about all sorts of random crap. Living with Tiff all my life I was able to keep up and it was mildly amusing. Eventually he plopped down at my computer “YOU GOT BEER FOR MY HORSES? I LOVE THAT SONG!”

After hearing Beer for my Horses sung, sort of, about 30 times I finally decided this nutcase was just going to have to pass out again and I turned the lights off and started watching Kate and Leopold again.  If I remember right he passed out again for a few hours then got up and left with a hang over.

HOLY COW! Never a dull moment with that character! He might be worth speaking to again, he’s from Edna Hall, he’ll be back. It’s like code for those guys to flood Kent Hall like Neanderthals….. 

Back Where I Come From....

A baby IS a gift from God.  We have been blessed with such gifts on multiple occasions. It is the most amazing thing to look into those precious faces and see what you have created with someone you love so dear. Of these creations, to understand how we got to where we are now in our journey, we need to go back and start at the beginning.... 

November 4^th, 2003

Chadron State College

Kent Hall

2^nd Floor Girls Wing

Room of Sheri Stewart

& Jessalynn Fellers

“Let’s go to the free movie tonight!”

“…okay I will be down at 6,” I said, thinking it was a night I needed to get out of the dorms.

     I had just been home to Holdrege for Halloween and the gang was coming up to stay in the cabins at Chadron State Park this weekend to celebrate 4 years together for my fiancé and I. I had a secret though; I was working up to the courage to break it off. You see he had become quite dependent on his best friend Bud Light over the past couple years and had even started to get mean about it after, oh 22 of 24 in the case.

   Arriving at the theater we jumped in line fingers crossed that we would get in as of curse we were late. For any of you who know me, my mom, or even my son, you might be thinking this to be my fault; however, you would be wrong. As terrible as I am with punctuality, my ex-roommate Jessalynn was worse.  As we approached the ticked box the couple in front of us were not college students, looking good I thought. The first 200 college students to the featured movie once a month at the Eagle Theater got in free. Finally, us…… “numbers 203-206, you have to pay.” Oh heck no! I have $5 that is either popcorn and pop or the movie, not both. I am not sure what the movie was that night, but apparently it didn’t look good enough to actually pay to get into. So Sheri says, “Nemo comes out on DVD tonight, want to go to Wal-Mart and grab that instead?”

Wal-Mart, the hottest hangout in Chadron in 2003. That is where we went and what we did. What a bust. So much for getting out of the dorms. I found myself sitting in room 2-something of Kent Hall, right in the middle of what was known as “Dramaville”. I was bored and for some reason the movie was not in the DVD player yet……likely Jessalynn again. In my mischievousness I began to shout anatomical classifications to passerby’s. What did I have to hold back, it wasn’t my floor or my room?  “PENIS!” I shouted as the next guy going down the hall came into view. Another one, “Penis!” Then in that one came, poster in hand! OH CRAP!

Who was it? Amused as he was, he apparently knew the girls and had purpose to being here as he plopped his stuff down right next to them.  How did they know someone I didn’t? I had known them since before day 1 as one was my first roommate, the ones they give you all contact info for, and the other was the sister of a girl who worked at Pizza Hut with me in high school, we had the same majors and the same classes. Regardless, there was this guy coaxing them to do his speech paper for him, due the next day.  

The girls agreed to do his poster and instead of leaving, he stayed. The movie finally started and we laid on the floor to watch it. Determined not to touch but limited on resources in the dorm as I had swapped roommates with Sheri, taking her roommate Lexi and giving her Jessalynn, they were not left with much. Turns out Lexi and I had brought most of the furniture and comforts to the rooms.  Eventually we ended up each taking an opposite end of the same pillow to watch the movie.

“SHARK BAIT, oooo haha!” The room began to fill and the night was turning out less dull than previously anticipated. In walks this girl, her I knew, gives me the death glare and plops down sprawling out across this Wayne guy. Awesome. I gave them the pillow and sat uncomfortably criss cross applesauce the remainder of the show before heading back up to “Barbieville,” 3^rd floor, where my room was.

And thus I met another Edna Hall guy one bored night in the dorms, not expecting it to be relevant to the rest of my life….

Where Do Babies Come From?

Where do babies come from
a question as a child I would wonder,
when I asked my mother this question
her answers often made me ponder.

'I found you under a cabbage patch,'
or the stork brought you to my door,
'I don't know' is what she would say,
and confuse me even more.

I thought I had it all figured out
when I saw the doctor carry a black bag
into the door of my cousins house
a baby was left there and that's no gag.

My girlfriend's mother was a pastor's wife
she told me the facts of life one day,
explaining all the deep details
in such a wonderful glowing way.

Since my mother had so often said,
'I don't know' to me, I thought it true,
I couldn't wait to tell her all about it,
why her faced turned red I never knew.

I guess these facts were to be secrets
to my mother who couldn't explain,
but the pastor's wife taught me
it was God's blessing, and no shame.

I learned that love and sex are good
and by God they were created,
but they're not to be misused
while for the right one we waited.

I was so glad to get all these many
Generational misunderstandings cleared
and was thankful to know these simple facts
and found they were ones to be revered.

Norma Duncan AKA Mistymaiden