Dark Night

Senior year at last

The next day, I got a phone call from the manager at the rink. Paul and John were both quitting early to go to China for their visit with their grandparents and he was a little desperate for workers. Could I fill in? He was hiring to replace them but it hadn't been done yet. I certainly could, and I would start the next day. So that was good, it would keep me busy until I went back to school. Grandpa made me a celebratory birthday dinner and was glad that I had something to do. I think my cleaning was making him a little nuts. Certainly the kitties were; they scattered anytime they saw me with a piece of cloth.

Cass and Carol took me to lunch and Paul texted me happy birthday; they were paused in Hawaii and he was wandering around the airport terminal. Stan came over late in the afternoon; he'd been the one to tell the manager that I had some time on my hands. I was getting antsy, wanting to get back to school for my final year. I wanted to talk to my faculty committee and advisor about grad school. There was also recruitment to worry about, but that would be done during Zero Week and I'd be done before classes. It was a lot of pressure; I wanted recruitment to be successful and I worried that we'd get a tiny new member class and it would be my fault. So it was good to have distractions. The parents showed up with presents; we had a nice dinner out on the patio, enjoying the pretty garden. And some bees, but they're necessary pollinators. I was appreciative of the presents; everybody had put a lot of thought into them. Shuri and Invisible Steve were allowed to come out on their harnesses for awhile, and it was a really pleasant evening.

I started at the rink the next day and was greeted enthusiastically by Krista and Marc. They had big news to share; they were moving in together. I asked if they needed help, but they were mostly moved in. I was really excited for them both. Given the high price of real estate, this was a great move. The center had a lot of land and was in the early phases of planning a housing development for the coaches and other personnel who worked there full time; there would be affordable long-term leases on houses for those who had signed contracts to provide services exclusively to the skaters at the center, but this was still in the early stages. They were starting to think about whether they wanted a family--I hoped so!--so the timing would be really good. I was really glad that their relationship was solid; Marc had been really hurt by his previous girlfriend and I wanted him to be happy again. Krista is just such a nice, positive person  and exactly what he needed.

Being able to work made the time fly by and soon I'd packed and given Grandpa one more goodbye hug. I was always sad to leave, but there was just so much ahead of me. It felt weird, when I got to campus, not to be heading to the Hill and my old dorm room but to the sorority house. The president and I were there early with members of the alumnae advisory board to go through the house and make sure everything was in good repair, no damage that needed fixing, that we had the stationery we needed for recruitment, that we had the housing contracts ready to go, all that kind of thing. I'd checked at the end of spring quarter, but it never hurt to be thorough. We moved in quickly and met with my advisor to be sure that we understood the rules for recruitment thoroughly and to go over the plans one more time, then we were free. We went to dinner a little early as I needed to stop by my bank and get a safe deposit box. I felt a lot more at ease when my pearl strand, my great-grandma's diamond ring, and The Earrings were safely stored with a little bit of emergency cash. 

After dinner, the house was just too creepy with just the two of us so we went to one of the fraternities to hang out for a couple of hours. It was kind of irritating that the fraternities were all on the other side of campus, it made socializing more difficult. Then back to the house and an early bedtime; from here on out we'd be running full throttle. And we were, too. Members of our advisory board brought us breakfast and we were set up and ready for the girls to start arriving. Room assignments had been made in the spring so there wasn't any fuss about roommates; I felt lucky to be in one of the two-person rooms.