For Amy

Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Amy! Not this Amy, but another Amy we all know from college (Apparently, 1975-76 was Name Your Daughter Amy Year and then we all ended up at the same college together!) Amy was my roommate, and we spent many happy hours in those little rooms in Lawless Hall. Today is her birthday, one year (minus one day) before mine, so here's a little birthday top-ten in her honor (and also because her card will be late, as usual!)

Top Ten College Memories

10. The Eagles (the band): Amy loves The Eagles. I mean LOVES The Eagles. I am a fan of '70's rock, but I never knew such devotion until we listened to all of The Eagles albums in chronological order while she was studying during finals week. She is the reason why, to this day, I can identify any Eagles song within three notes.

9. Hearts Marathons: I am not a fan of playing cards, so Amy would have to import people into our room to play Hearts with her. I once left her mid-marathon, went to class, went to dinner, hit the library, and then came home and found her still kickin' A and takin' names.

8. Her famous caf creations: Amy, who once said she didn't eat anything green except green M&Ms, got creative in our cafeteria. She used to make a BLT with Bac-Os, people! Her imagination knew no bounds.

7. Tuna noodle salad: When the options at the caf just couldn't be borne (more often than we care to remember), Amy would boil elbow macaroni in our room and then mix it with a can of tuna. Rudimentary, but probably better than the "Grade D but edible" meat they served at school (no kidding, we actually saw that stamped on one of the boxes in the caf kitchen)

6. The boots: Amy had brown cowboy boots that she loved, and the first time I ever saw her (from afar in McShea Center) she was wearing those boots. She may still have them, I'm not sure . . .

5. The Coop: This was the beloved college diner, where the waitress knew the names of all the college regulars, where they had two seating areas: Smoky and Less Smoky, and where you could get some really delicious fries and a chocolate shake at 11 pm.

4. Laneco: The original supermarket/cheap crap store. Where else could you buy mac and cheese, ramen noodles, a floor lamp, and 40 thread count sheets in the same trip?

3. Mario's: This was the pizza place run by a Chinese family. They made a tasty pie with a bargain basement price, so they dominated the market in our area. The woman who came to deliver the pizza always said the same thing on the phone from the front door: "Dis Mario's. You pizza ready!" Loved that!

2. The binder: Amy is as big an office supplies addict as me, if that can be imagined or even possible. She kept things organized in a binder that was color-coded, with tabs and special colored pens for each section. It was a thing of beauty.

And the #1 memory from college:
Amy loves Rob, and she knew that I loved Rob before I knew that I loved Rob. She knew it when I would read Rob's letters 3 or 4 or 7500 times a day, and the way I would smile when anyone said his name. She wrote him a letter once to thank him for making me so happy, because she's cool like that.

Happy Birthday, Ame!!!!