For Marguerite

Happy Birthday to my dear and lovely sister-in-law, Marguerite. She and I have been friends long before we were in-laws, and I actually met Rob through Marguerite. He came to visit her at college, and I happened to be in her room when he came to take her out to dinner. They invited me to go with them, and the rest is history. When I first met her, I thought she was a nice person, but I would have never imagined that one day we would be related with 6 children between us. So in honor of Marguerite's birthday, I give you:

The Top Ten "Marguerite" College Memories:

10. Almost Roomies: There was a chance that we could have been roommates. Due to the various psychotic personalities on our floor of Conmy Hall, and their need to hold court in one wing of the building, there was a great deal of room shuffling during our freshman year. We each wanted to kill leave our assigned roommates, and we each had new roommates in mind, but the RA still tried to talk us into moving in together, even though we had not yet met. The RA's plan never came to fruition, and we still maintain that living together might not have been the best for our relationship.

9. Scofflaws: We were such rebels. We went to King's Supermarket . . . in our pajamas. Oh, those wild and crazy college days.

8. Coffee House: We made cafe mochas in my room on the cheap . . . very cheap! We used to take coffee and mix it up with hot chocolate . . . and a little extra sugar just to give the old pancreas a run for its money.

7. Fire Drills: We were RA's in a dorm that had a hair trigger fire alarm. Dust particles would activate this system, let alone the microwave popcorn that would get incinerated every time a drunk person wanted a snack and then passed out before they could get to it. And they always happened on the rainiest or coldest nights possible, preferably at 2 am or later.

6. The 'Stang: Marguerite was one of the very few with a car, and what a car it was. A reddish-orange 80's Mustang with T-tops that took us everywhere until it finally gave up for good on the Atlantic City Expressway.

5. Miss Clairol: Marguerite was the Linda Evangelista of college, with a new hair color almost every week. She usually did pretty well, except for the time she wanted to go darker and turned her blond hair sort of green. Of course, it didn't stay that way for long.

4. America's Most Wanted: We spent hours searching for Marguerite's roommate's engagement ring, after she flung it during a phone fight with her fiancee. I can't remember if we ever found it, but, then again, her roommate didn't end up with her fiancee either.

3. Crazy Magnet: Marguerite wins the "crazy roommate" contest, hands down. During our college tenure, she lived with: a chain smoking, leather-clad Madonna (the singer) worshipper, a nymphomaniac, a girl who legally re-named herself after a car and stepped on Marguerite's head while she was drunk and trying to climb onto the top bunk, a druggie ballerina . . . I'm sure I'm missing some, but, really, isn't that enough?

2. Fine and "Dandy": Marguerite is a petite woman (she was a dance major in college), but she can pack away the sweets if she puts her mind to it. To wit: Rob, Marguerite, and I went on a trip to the historic battlefields of Gettysburg, and then stopped for dinner on our way back to school. Marguerite opted for the Jim Dandy Sundae, which includes something like five scoops of ice cream. She ate the whole thing, but Rob had to drive back to college because she promptly lapsed into a sugar coma.

1. I Can't Fight This Feelin' Any Longer: This REO Speedwagon song was the anthem of Marguerite's early relationship with her husband, Jason, who also went to school with us (it was a regular love-in, people). She had it recorded on a mix tape (remember those?) two times in a row, so that we could listen to it again and again with minimal breaks for rewinding. Since the radio in the Mustang was broken, we would play it on a boombox that sat on the backseat - we were Hi Klass all the way!

We love you, Mags, and we hope you have a great day!