Nameless, Part I

I have a funny mind. I can remember frequently bizarre details, or the dates of things I did, but on the other hand, can easily forget that I meant to update this or that web page tonight or, often far worse, someone's name. That strikes me today, as — depending on whether you choose to count the anniversary of a day by the day of the week or the date — a particularly vivid day occurred two years ago the Friday of this week, today, or, really, two years ago Wednesday. I can say that somehow without looking back on the calendar. I just know innately that it was two years ago. It isn't that the date is stuck in my head, I just remember. How odd.

For some reason, I have the urge to write out the “story” of that day, so I shall.

It was a warm, crisp autumn Friday in October. I got up earlier than usual and cleaned up my car a bit. My cousin, Amelia, was coming over to go with me to Lindenwood so that she could get a taste of the university. Amelia was in her senior year at Lutheran High at the time; originally we had planned to do this little tour and “class sit in” the semester before, but the plans had just not come together — that was just as well, as the classes the previous semester would not have proved nearly as interesting for her to sit in. Regardless, it to be this day and not some other one. I don't think she was really considering going to any other school still at the time, so perhaps the purpose of giving her a taste of LU wasn't as useful as it would have been before, but the main thing was that it promised to be a fun day.

When she arrived, we hopped into my Jeep and headed off. I thoroughly confused her as I cut through the various back roads I take to avoid the traffic of Highway 94 in the morning. We chatted about various subjects, including the upcoming presidential election. We arrived several hours before the first of my two Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. I pulled into the parking lot of St. Charles Presbyterian, turned the wrong way and tried to maneuver into a parking spot, but ultimately had to back out carefully and come around the right direction.

We talked as we walked up the hill to the campus and I began a tour of the various buildings. I believe we walked through Butler Hall — the professors' offices — first, wound around and back out the basement, went through Roemer, peeked into Butler Library, then Young, and into the dark (and often ignored) Memorial Arts Building, that houses the business faculty. We went to the drab downstairs, because I wanted to introduce Amelia to Dr. Chilton, who is a friend and mentor of mine, but his door was shut all the way and I presumed he wasn't there (I later found out he was).

At that point we wandered over to the Spellmann Center to eat lunch. It was just before 11:00 and we were to meet my cousin's friend Maggie, who had just started at LU. We came down the stairs and Maggie came up and introductions were made. I'm not quite sure the reason, but we stayed outside the cafeteria for a few minutes. I remember leaning against the cool of the exterior facing wall of the building as we talked. I asked Maggie about what classes she was taking, and if I recall correctly, she was in a World Religions class with Dr. Mason.

We entered the cafeteria when one of my professors from the semester before, Dr. Stein was walking over to get a tray. I introduced my cousin to him. My English advisor, Dr. Hickenlooper also walked by and I introduced Amelia to him. I seem to remember introducing my cousin to Dr. Chilton, whom I mentioned a few moments ago, too, but can't say for sure — which is odd, given that I can remember the other details. The cafeteria was extremely sparse feeling that day, it was almost as if there were a few professors there just so I could introduce them to my cousin and that was it. I'm sure there were some students milling around, but I can't recall that at all.

The menu included baked fish, broccoli, and baked potatoes in the “homestyle” section of the cafeteria. I got all three, and, I think, a salad as well. Amelia and Maggie had gone to other sections to get food and I met back up with Amelia on the way in to the cafeteria.

I'll continue on this story tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly why; hopefully it won't prove too uninteresting.