Spring Semester 1985
Second semester began with new classes but without regular marching band rehearsals or performances.
One exception was an odd gig down in Charleston, on the first day of classes, when the full band played for Governor Arch Moore’s inauguration. We all froze and frankly would rather have been in class.
A week later was another impromptu trip, but an overnighter. We were to march at President Reagan’s second inauguration. On the day we arrived, Senator Robert Byrd had a reception for us in D.C. The next day, a Monday, it was so brutally cold out that the parade ended up being cancelled. The drumline got to do some partying upstairs at the hotel, however. It kicked my ass.
We turned in our instruments and uniforms for the season after that.
Winter set in to the Monongahela Valley with some snow, but most of all bone-chilling cold. The full-length down coat Mom had bought for me the previous year now came in handy.
“This Is Not America” by David Bowie and Pat Metheny
David Bowie & Pat Metheny Group – This is not America
Mom continued to write and call, and I did the same, still seeing John pretty regularly. We increasingly spent time together, becoming much more intimate. We were like magnets.
I was in concert band this semester, and would soak up as much drumming as possible. I got to play snare on a couple of pieces, including Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture.” I nailed it. I also took snare lessons from Rande Sanderbeck to groom me for matched grip auditions coming up in August. I had my eye on the snare line, and nothing would stop me.
As expected, I again had problems with Dr. Lorince’s written theory, having just squeaked by last semester. Mom had rewarded me with a new WVU sweatshirt if I passed the course. (I still have it, and it’s like new!) I decided to get a tutor, and inched over the finish line on fumes.
I did well in all my other courses. Aural theory was again a cakewalk.
In early March, Dr. Portnoy took the WVU Symphony on a day trip down to Davis & Elkins College to perform in a concert. We played Mozart, and The Pines by Tchaikovsky. Michelle (aka “Eunice”) and I split our guts on the bus, and everyone had a great time. Chuck passed around a bottle of apple schnapps.
John and I spent a lot of time together, whether between classes, evenings or weekends and at Chapel social events. It was hard to deny that I was inevitably feeling closer to him and he was becoming a real part of my life. Eventually, I realized my feelings for him had taken quite a serious turn. There was no sense in denying them any further.
“In My House” by The Mary Jane Girls
Ka-POW!
On March 6, I was on my way back to the dorm after Theory class when it hit me … I was in love with John! My heart wanted to pound right out of my chest. Denying this any further was an exercise in futility.
Well, I raced down to the vending machine for M&Ms, his favorite candy, and dashed back up to my room. When John stopped by after class as expected, I gave him the M&Ms and told him there was something I had to say. I finally confided that I loved him.
He grabbed me up off the floor and spun me around and was saying, “You love me! Say it again.” We dissolved into a sea of kisses. My heart was popping with joy.
Late that night, before John left on a bus trip with the Pep Band for an Atlantic 10 (pre-Big East/Big XII) WVU/RU basketball game, we stayed up talking and kissing.
Our hearts ached knowing he’d leave early the next morning, and that we’d be apart until the end of spring break. It was crazy knowing the Pep Band would be staying at the Marriott in New Brunswick, just miles from my house, but we couldn’t see each other.
The following day, the WVU Symphony took another trip, this time to Charleston. We performed down there and had another epic bus trip down and back. And the day after that, I rode with Matt back to Jersey.
My homecoming found Mom in her recliner, feeling very sick. I was scared shitless. Nana was there to help Dad out, and she made a big Italian dinner for all of us.
Nana and I went to the mall the next day, bought a pair of Nikes for me, and we went to the cafe at Penney’s afterward. We had a nice talk. That night, one of Mom’s close nursing friends, Mrs. Schiffman came over. She was the one who helped doll me up on Prom day. I tried to distract myself with Theory and Sociology studies. It was too painful to face what was happening.
I spent time with Mom during break, but will always regret in my hindsight that I didn’t do more for her. I wish I’d had the stomach to clean the “pins” of her “halo,” which required Q-Tips and peroxide. I just couldn’t stand to see her like that, up-close-and-personal with this apparatus. I know she felt bad about this and it pains me to recall. With deep reflection, I now realize that had I possessed the maturity and perspective of adulthood at the time, I would have been of significantly more support.
Mom had such a hard time that week. She couldn’t keep much food down, so Dad got her meal replacement drinks. He removed her brace and gently gave her a bath. This wasn’t something that encouragement was going to fix. Prayers were sent up with the knowledge that certain things are out of our hands. Mom also had me read a pamphlet about hospice care. It was a blunt foreshadowing of what was to come. I wanted to cry in John’s arms, but he was 290 miles away.
My heart was raw as road kill all week. I listened to music, including This Is Not America and looking at pictures of John and writing about my brimming emotions about everything in the ME Book.
I also hung out with Tracy, which was fun, and I got together with other friends home on college break. I went bowling and on the tractor-trailer with Dad, and Mom (tired of being cooped up in the house) came down the shore with Dad and me for a Stuff Yer Face Boli. We saw that Max’s had been rebuilt at the new location. It was a bit of normalcy at home that I needed.
Homecoming to My “Away” Home
My reunion with John after my 80 MPH ride back to WVU with Matt was fireworks. We stuck like glue. Classes, rehearsals, practice, and everything else was a blur as John and I spent all the time possible together. My lips were numb a lot of the time … it was glorious.
The weekend of Saturday, March 23, I studied the Greek alphabet for pledging Kappa Kappa Psi. That evening, we took a drive down to Clarksburg to visit Randy and Nancy, friends of John’s from his hometown. We decided to meet at a local Exxon gas station so Randy could lead us back to the house.
While we waited in the car, John once again produced his high school ring and formally asked me to be his girlfriend. I accepted, put it on my middle finger (too big for my ring finger) and we proceeded to make out for 15-20 minutes. (I hoped the friend wouldn’t come at all; alas … he did.)
So it was official … at last. (And five years later, I would marry him!)
Fall 2010 WVU Alumni Magazine (see page 48-49)
“Election Day” by Arcadia
Needless to say, this new couple-dom put the permanent kibosh on all my other dalliances, but it didn’t faze me. There was something magnetic, good and kind about John, something warm and loving and genuine. Round all that up in one attractive package and I had the man of my dreams.
John got a job as a driver for Domino’s Pizza that semester, and sometimes would come up to my room with an extra pepperoni pie when his shift ended late at night. I was only too happy to let him in. If Lisa minded, she didn’t show it — probably too busy licking her fingers and reaching for another slice. Who could turn down late-night pizza? Fortunately for me, the dreaded “Freshman 15” amounted to maybe a “5”.
Towers Beach
Spring of 1985 was a lot of fun. As the weather grew warmer, we students shed coats and jeans and began to enjoy the outdoors.
Two popular nearby places were Cooper’s Rock, which had an incredible view, and Cheat Lake, where we would canoe.
We Towers residents would grab a towel, some Coppertone and a boom box and lie out on the gently sloping hill next to the tennis courts in the complex, known as Towers Beach.
John and I would hop the PRT downtown and get ice cream at the DQ, or pop into the Boston Beanery for an illicit strawberry daiquiri (they didn’t card much; go figure).
I spent Easter weekend in Somerset, with John’s parents.
We colored eggs and hid them, and went to brunch at the Country Club after church. We were back at WVU that evening.
Great music from that era included Obsession by Animotion (specifically takes me back to Towers Beach), Jungle Love by Morris Day and the Time, Too Late for Goodbyes by Julian Lennon (John’s and my “theme song”), One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head, Some Like It Hot by Power Station, and Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer.
“Obsession” by Animotion
In My House by the Mary Jane Girls and Everything She Wants by Wham! bring to mind snuggling and hanging with John around that time.
Freshman Year Ends
Rande gave me a snare sightreading final, and I aced it. My final grade in snare lessons: A.
I ascended another proficiency level on violin at my “jury”, survived Dead Week and finals, and it became time to pack for summer vacation.
We each prepared to leave school, stripping our dorm rooms of any personality or evidence of our existence for the past two semesters. This of course meant John and I would be apart, which was a sickening thought.
One day in early May, we schlepped all my stuff over to the Coliseum Motel, and got a room for my parents and me. We snuggled as we awaited their arrival. Both parents would come for me, as Mom somehow felt well enough to stand the long drive wearing her stiff foam collar. Steve was home with a relative.
After Mom and Dad pulled up in the Eldorado, we all went out to Wings ‘n Things for a dinner chow-down. We were feasting on burritos when I soundly placed my foot in my mouth. I started scraping some of my too-spicy beef from my burrito onto John’s plate and casually remarked, “John likes to eat my meat ‘cause it’s hot.”
If there’d been a rewind button, that would be the textbook reason for its immediate use. The stunned silence that ensued at that table was matched only by my parents’ deer-in-the-headlights expressions of horror, and John’s complexion went red as a hog on a spit at a pig pickin’. I quickly changed the subject.
As dusk approached, John had to say goodbye and head up to Somerset. We had a tender hug and kiss outside the motel as the empty ache of not being able to see each other for the upcoming weeks set in. Mom, Dad and I headed home the next morning.
“Home By The Sea” by Genesis
The summer consisted of the usual family things, including visits to see relatives and day trips down the shore. Mona was also planning her wedding, and I was to be her maid-of-honor.
The job from last summer at RH Bruskin didn’t come through, so I got a job at Bun ‘n Burger at the Brunswick Square Mall. I worked the snack bar most of the time. My friend Anne was a waitress there, which was nice. One of the waiters, Carl, was really cute, but my mind was on John. All day, as I doled out hot dogs and frozen yogurt, I would dream about my Pennsylvania boy. We wrote to each other several times a week.
Music from that time includes A View to a Kill (theme from the movie of the same name) by Duran Duran, Voices Carry by ‘Til Tuesday, Shout by Tears for Fears, and If You Love Somebody Set Them Free by Sting.
Chapter 29: Summer and Another Shot At Snare
