Misty

I've noticed that several fb friends have been posting that they are taking their children to college. One is even taking their child to my alma mater, Concordia University Chicago, nee River Forest. That got me all misty-eyed. (If you know me in real life, that's not saying a whole lot.)

For me, it was fifteen years ago, August of 1995. It was a special time and it was a good time for me and my dad. Having a minivan full of stuff and needing to take two days to drive from northern VA to Chicago meant that mom had to stay home. Besides, she had to work in order to put me through school!

The first thing that was memorable about the trip was on day two of our drive, as Dad and I were heading north on the interstate from Indy to Chicago. It was my turn to drive and Dad was drinking his coffee and we were listening to NPR or something like that. Out of the blue, Dad says to me, "Y'know...now's not the time to be making babies."

My initial response was, "....uh...okay". I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and put my eyes back in their sockets. Apparently Dad was unaware that I was seventeen, pimply, not in 'game shape', and never had any luck with the ladies in high school. I wasn't expecting to be the big man on campus.

We pulled in to the parking lot outside of David-Jonathan Hall, where I was assigned to live in The Cave (the leaky, hot all year long basement of DJ, "sub-standard living at its finest"). At that moment we were swamped by various members of O, T, and C staff. RF had various staffs to help with orientation, transfer students, and then Freshmen Camp. It was amazing. We told them what room, and before I knew it, my books, iron, suitcase, and golf clubs were whisked away. Granted, they were dumped in the room, but it sure was handy.

We went and registered for my classes, had lunch in the cafeteria, bought a few books, and had a tour. After lunch the new students were taken away by themselves for some games and the parents went to a financial aid seminar along with some other faculty and administrative folk. Following that everyone went to the Chapel for an opening service. After that, it was time for the students to stay and their parents to go. Dad had moved our van to a different lot and we walked to the lot together. It was then that Dad started crying.

I had never really seen my dad cry before. I asked him why he was crying and he said that as he gets older, he gets more emotional, and that I would understand some day. (I do.) We hugged and he gave me a $20 and he told me how much he loved me and how proud he was of me and that he and mom would be praying for me. (I'm getting misty now.)

He got in the car and then left. (Interesting that he drove as far as Marysville OH, and to save money, parked the car in a neighborhood and slept in the back of the van. Later, my wife would spend about four years in Marysville and we were married in that great town.)

The rest of the week was something of a blur. There were all sorts of activities, led by crazy upperclassmen. I tried out for the Kapelle and was introduced to Doctor Tom Gieschen. He told me I should take private lessons and that led me to change my schedule before the semester had even started. (That's how influential Doc was.)

On Friday the Camp Staff took us to camp, a fine example of truth in advertising. We went to a Salvation Army camp on the IL/WI border. It was awesome in its badness. Too many spiders, bad showers, not enough silverware, but I got to meet some really awesome people.

My exampe is not unique. I'm sure the other Concordias have similar events and that other schools have orientations too. I can't speak about them. I can only speak of what I know and what happened fifteen years ago is still something that is pretty special.