The summer before my sophomore year at UW I was notified that my roommate Brad and I could move back into McCarty Hall three days early. Three days early? That’s HUGE! Avoiding the chaos of move-in day was ineffable, especially to my father.
I love Dad. Absolutely. But patience and Poppa Michener aren’t exactly synonomous. To be fair, I should say that he has become much more laid back now that all his children are grown up. You’re the best, Dad!
There was a catch to the early move, though. A price to be paid, if you will. Brad and I had to become members of the DAWGs crew. In exchange for those days of relative peace we agreed to help the mass of students, and their emotional mothers, get settled into dorm rooms on the big day. September 27th, 2001.
We were given giant carts on wheels to push around. Kind of like this:
Just kidding. Although, that would have been awesome. Nothing says welcome to your 21st century institution of higher learning quite like a wagon out of the Beverly Hillbillies. I suppose the bins actually looked more like this:
Our job was to help load the heavy stuff...
...and point wayward freshman in the right direction. Quickly. The load zone was only so big, and there were oh so many people (not so) patiently waiting. Along with the other volunteers, Brad and I took turns loading people’s lives into a cart and unloading them into a room. Usually a triple room:
One of these triples would be occupied by my future wife.
When she hopped out of her mom’s red Chevy Blazer...
...I sprang into action, quickly rolling my cart to the curb.
She was cute.
Really cute.
I was never very good with pleasantries, though. So other than introducing myself to her and her mom, Sandy, I pretty much just loaded the cart. Once we finished emptying out the Blazer, I asked which room she was assigned to.
“467,” she said.
Ha, 467! I was in 359… Aaaawwww yeah, she was just one floor above me! I made sure to mention that after we unloaded her stuff.
That night at dinner Brad and I were talking about our DAWGs adventure. I remember telling him about Sara, the cute girl upstairs.
She and I didn't really hang out much at first.
Not very good at pleasantries, remember?
Plus we were both seeing other people at the time. But once those relationships fell victim to the social challenges of college, we would both spend more time with the dorm clique. That would eventually lead to she and I spending more time together. And by together, I mean chatting on AIM.
That’s right. I had AIM game.
Again, please see earlier comments about pleasantries.
It worked, though. The AIM chats would lead to dancing together at random U-District houses on the weekends...
...and sharing a delightful dinner at everyone’s favorite sausage joint on our first unofficial date.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Thanks for supporting my early move, Dad!
