A trip down memory lane...

My dear Jenn VB recently sat down and wrote some of her memories of the past three years of university. Inspired by her writing and perhaps because I’ve been doing quite a lot of my own nostalgic thinking as of late, I thought I’d pen down a ‘few’ of my own memories of just my first year alone. Perhaps the other two years will follow another time, but for now, let’s take a trip back to my first year….

I am still not really certain as to how I ended up at Redeemer. My plans in highschool (which happens to only be a few short miles down the road from Redeemer’s campus) originally centered around going off to Calvin, in order that I could ‘get away’ and expereince some ‘independent’ living. However, after evaluating the costs and some other factors, the "dutchness" in me won over (not that Redeemer is really cheap by any means, but cheaper by far from calvin…). In any case, closer to the end of my OAC year when applications were supposed to be filled and sent in, something in my head (ie. God) helped me to settle on Redeemer and I completed the necessary steps to get me to Redemers doors. I decided early on that I would live on campus for the first year to get a taste of living ‘on my own’. While it was truly only semi-independence (my home was a 5 min. drive away), I used my time away from home ‘wisely’ by staying up to the wee hours of the night (in first year, getting to bed before 2 was considered ‘early’), doing little studying, hanging out with friends, and playing the ‘usual’ pranks. I think some of my fondest memories have to do with my dorm girls. The moment I stepped into my dorm of 302 I knew I had been blessed. Each of the girls was amazing and contributed to our dorm in such awesome ways. I never knew I could laugh so much for so long… I can stil recall my first night living with my new roomie, and now dear friend, Laura. We were both still so shy and not really sure how to act in front of eachother. While I’m not really sure when the transformation took place, by the end of the semester we were far from shy of eachother, often borrowing clothes, having girl chats at 4 am in the morning, and laughing every time I shut the lights off when I left the bedroom leaving poor Laura sitting in the dark…
I loved our dorm atmosphere too. We had amazing devotions and certain girls in the dorm were always encouraging us with their notes and kind words. While I never really learned too many cooking skills while I was in the dorm, I certainly had fun trying… ;).
Some of my other more vivid memories also include the boys of both dorms 19 and 29. The boys of 19 were always good for a laugh and we could always drop by in the mornings to the wonderful smell of homebaked bread. The guys from that dorm soon became like brothers to many of us and many late nights were spent hanging out there. When I think of dorm 19 I think of Rod and Rob at Wonderland and Rob teaching me how to really ‘pack a punch’ (I’m still learning… ;)). I think of religious debates between Rob and Andy and nights spent in worship in the Rec centre. I also recall Rob’s obsession with vacuuming (a nice obsession when he came to visit our dorm! J ) and how their dorm was usually/always cleaner than ours. I have so many fond memories of that dorm. Little did I know that my future brother in law would come from that very dorm… :) .
Somewhere around the end of first semester we also began to hang around more regularily with the boys of 29. The guys of 29 were a crazy, but awesome mixture of personalities. I can recall countless late nights talking, wrestling matches, movies, and listening to story after story of crazy and hilarious events. We also saw some things we probably shouldn’t have... such as seeing all the boys run into one of the guys rooms and shortly thereafter seeing a pair of ripped boxers come flying out…. ;). I recall a number of waterfights, and planned water raids while on the tennis courts. I recall being held ‘hostage’ by Rob and Robbie by watergun point and getting out only b/c my dear cousin made up a story about my mom being at the dorm waiting to take me to an appointment which I had ‘forgotten’ about… I remember Rob having me tell him my ‘life story’ up to grade 6 and him psychoanalyzing me as I did so. I remember Steve getting tired of me telling my story and telling us all to ‘go to bed’! :) I remember cultivating deep and lasting friendships in that dorm, having amazing and heartfelt discussions about faith and relationships, and enjoying a type of friendship and brotherly love that I had never really experienced before.
As I think back on first year, I could probably cite off another page full of memories, but I won’t, b/c this is getting lengthly already. But as Jenn already put so well, looking back on first year, and all my life really, I realize how much I have been blessed. It is amazing to see how God places people and events in our lives which shape us and who bless us. I look forward to the coming years and the next stage in my life to see what other events and people he will put in my life and how once again I will be changed because of them. One thing is certain: God is faithful!