A Whole New World

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a senior in college. And I had the most amazing roommates of all time. I didn't appreciate them at the time, but oh wow, do I miss them now.

And boy, did we make memories that year. About half way through the first semester we got a new roommate who was absolutely the destruction to our perfect little bubble world. Words can't adequately describe Bethany. She was eccentric, flighty, nurturing, artistic, and kinda kooky. She was the type of person who takes some time to get used to. She had the innate ability to drive you to insanity and then make you laugh until you cried.

She was like a hurricane. She would come running into our room babbling under her breath and in seconds turn around and run back out, her long, sandy blond hair streaming behind her. She was classic hippy-chic. Long, flowy skirts - comfy tops - sandals. Unless she had to dress up. I.e., formals. Oh, how Bethany hated formals.
For her last one, she ran in from work, threw on a glittery headband and black jacket and ran back out. (see below)


But she loved to show off....


I remember one night she came in and told us she would like to start a new room tradition - bed time stories. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the book, but the charming tale she read us was about 2 sisters who were thought to have poisoned their entire family. Nice, right? But we loved it. Every night at 10 pm, we would all be in bed patiently waiting for Bethany to start reading.

And she was obsessed with giraffe's. OBSESSED. She had a stuffed giraffe, from her boyfriend, whose name was Giusseppi. At some point in the semester, we roommates - kind as we were - decided it would be a great idea to steal the giraffe and hold it hostage in order to get Bethany to clean up after herself. Oh.my.gosh. She freaked out on us. It still makes me laugh.



Poor Giusseppi....

You may wonder what on earth made me think of Bethany after all these years.
My answer? Glee.

Bethany always had show tunes playing. ALWAYS. Despite her craziness, she was nothing if not cultured. And she rubbed off on us. Thanks, Bethany!

By the end of the semester, we had all traded in our country or pop music for the soundtrack of Les Mis, Into the Woods, or Phantom. We had traded our Justin Timberlake for Josh Groban and our Brittany Spears for Sarah Brightman. She was chaotic and crazy and rarely cared what she looked like, but she exposed us to things that, without her, the 3 of us would never have experienced.

Bethany, if you are out there, thanks so much and sorry for stealing Giusseppi! By the way, do YOU have any idea what the name of that book was?