Samm
There you were, standing at the top of the stairs at Moore Hall, yellow mini dirndl skirt, Swiss peasant blouse with a red tie, a top knot on your head, a tootsie roll pop bulging in your cheek, sparkling laughing eyes and big smile. Then you guffawed, and you moved aside so that I could pass. You followed me into my room, I heaved my suitcase up onto the bed, and you continued to stand in silence though there was nothing silent about you. You put your hands on your hips and just watched me, waiting for me to make the first move.
“Excuse me”, said I, “is there something that you want?”
You laughed a belly laugh and pulled out the straight backed chair that was sitting at my desk, turned it around and sat, legs sprawled apart, leaning forward on it, took the tootsie roll pop out of your mouth and rested your elbows on the back of the chair.
“I’ve heard about you, I like you.”
And then you got up and left.
I sat down on my bed next to my suitcase and felt blank.
Oh Samm! What a duo we were. What an incredible year at Northfield, and then out into the world. We saved each other from disaster so many times, and we held each other’s heart so many times. The adventures and the people and the throbbing world of the 60’s that we were trying to sort ourselves out in, and how we stood together through it all, until we didn’t.
You have been and will be forever a part of me. You personify ‘Leap! Even if you can’t see what lies down below!’ which, with reservations here and there, has been central to my life on earth. You lifted the veil off all that held me back through seeing me and loving me. What more is there than that between human beings? I love you.
Happy Birthday up there.