Harding Day 1 Part 2

After dinner, we needed a place to go and talk.  Where better than our old hangout, Midnight Oil?!  I love that place.  It's a little coffee shop on the edge of campus.  It was packed with students wall to wall with some students entertaining the crowd, which just added to my excitement.  Just like the old days!  We squeezed our way to the front of the store to get in line.  I was praying they still had my favorite drink, a Creamsicle.  Mmmmm.  I didn't see it on the menu, but I did see a Clockwork Orange.  Must be the same drink, different name.  I've always wanted to know how to make one, because I think it's one of the best drinks ever, so I decided to ask while I had my chance.

"How much to get the recipe from you?"

'How much?  $100.  Nah...you can just go online and look up an Orange Julius.  It's basically the same thing."

"No it's not.  An Orange Julius has crushed ice.  This gets poured OVER the ice."

"No.  We crush the ice here too."

"No!!  I don't want my ice crushed!  I want it poured OVER the ice!  That's how you make it!"

"We've always made it that way."

"NO YOU HAVEN'T!"

"I've been here for 5 years.  It's always been done that way."

"5 years?  WELL I......."

At this point my lovely friends pulled me away and explained that I was crazy before I could  tell that little whippersnapper just how wrong he was and how 5 years was NOTHING.  I regretfully and hesitantly took my butchered CREAMSICLE (oh yeah, buddy!  They weren't ALWAYS called Clockwork Oranges either!)

On the up side, this was a LOT more drink than you used to get for the money.  One sip reassured me that I still got the same taste, just a slightly different  texture.  It still goes OVER the ice.....

We went out on the porch where we had more room and found a corner to sit and talk.  Thankfully the weather was mild and we got to spend a lot of time outdoors that weekend.  I had the BEST time just sitting and talking - mostly about our kids!  It was so great just to compare stories, and personalities, and parenting styles.  I realized this is something that I am missing BIG time in my own life.  I loved having the support.  I would do anything to have those girls live close to me!  Once we realized that we had been spending all our time talking about our kids, we changed the subject back to Harding.  I told everyone we HAD to go see Mama Cox.  Leigh went and attacked some students to see if she was still there.  They had no idea who she was.  Kristi and Leigh came to the conclusion that she must not be there anymore if they hadn't heard of her.  Either that or she has mellowed out.  There was a brief pause before we all bust into laughter.  But I didn't care what they said, I KNEW she was still there.  There was no way she had left.  And of course, no way she had mellowed out!

We laughed as watched Midnight Oil empty out all at once.  Must be close to curfew time!  How nice that we don't have to run off!  We savored the moment of not being bound by the clock and then decided we should go walk around campus for a bit - you know....since we didn't have to be in the dorm!  We were looking forward to being chased off by security.

It was 10:30pm and I wanted to go see one of the students there before curfew at 11pm so I didn't have to track her down on a Saturday.  We got to Cathcart and walked in to see the most unbelievable transformation.  Brand new carpeting, furniture, flat screen TV, new desk, new tiling.  It was really ritzy looking.  I didn't take pictures because I never lived in Cathcart, but I knew this was a major change.  We were blown away.  I asked for the dorm number of the girl I was going to see and they were able to give it to me so we headed off to find her.

She opens the door and the three of us can't believe what we're seeing in the room.  New beds, new desks, new walls, new flooring.  The place looks spectacular.  We gawk for a little while.  I then ask her if Mama Cox is still there.  She looks at her roommate and they look confused.  They have no idea who I am talking about.  Kristi and Leigh say, "See?  I bet she's not here anymore.  If she was, they would know who she is."  I was NOT convinced.  I tell the student that we better get going before they kick us out for curfew and again she looks confused.  "Curfew is at 1am."  WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??  ONE AM?  The 3 of us start freaking out.  Are you kidding me?  So we're sitting there looking like idiots and they explain that curfew is 12 during the week and 1 on the weekends.  After we explained how oppressed we were by having to come in at ELEVEN on the weekends, we decided to quit terrorizing them and leave - shaking our heads the whole way.

We get back to the front desk and Kristi asks for a number, only to find out the rooms don't have phones, because apparently EVERYBODY has a cell phone.  We just kept getting one shock after another.  Seriously?  NO phones?  Not even at the front desk.  I mean really people.  Can EVERY student afford a cell phone bill?  Are you REALLY just stuck without a phone if you don't have a cell?  We couldn't hide our disbelief.  So what exactly do you DO up here all day??  Keep in mind, we ALL worked the front desk in college and ALL we did was answer the phone and give people phone numbers.  It was exhausting.  Again, we got the "these-people-are-weird" look and they stammered out, "Well...basically enforce dress code....and ummm....make sure the boys don't go back there...."  Wow.  Just wow.  Before leaving, I had to ask where Mama Cox was.  We finally got an answer!  She WAS still there, but was in one of the boys dorms.  We decided to make our way over there - since, ya know...we had until ONE!  We thanked the girls at the desk, who no doubt were glad that we were leaving.  Apparently, this trip was really just going to consist of us "showing our age" and scaring all the current students. 

I have to go get my little boy up now.  But I'll be back later with tales of visiting Mama Cox!!!