O-U-A-C-H-I-T-A!

Wow.  It's been twenty-two years since my parents tearfully dropped me off in front of the Flippen-Perrin dorm and I waved goodbye uncertainly and began that amazing adventure we call the Ouachita experience. Ínitially when I heard about the first OBU BlogAbout I was hesitant to participate.  Not because I don't have many, many great memories from my time at Ouachita but because I didn't know how in the world I could adquately condense those memories into a coherent blog post that would do justice to the experience.  But I'm not one to miss out on a party so here goes...

My husband, Wes, says that the most important thing I need to tell you is that I met HIM at OBU.  It was right before Christmas break of my sophomore year and his freshman year.  For weeks my roommate, Teresa, had been telling me about this really cute, super-friendly guy in one of her classes.  One evening they were studying together on the bridge of the Student Center and I happened to drop by and was finally introduced to him.  I'm not being overly dramatic when I say that life was never the same!

My first two years at OBU the girls had a curfew.  Just the girls.  I guess the powers that be figured that if the girls all had to be back in the dorm then the guys wouldn't have anything to do and they'd go home too.  Wes just kindly pointed out that the Henderson girls didn't have a curfew.  Nice. 

Anyhoo, during finals week we would inevitably get the munchies after curfew.  That was back during the days of the Taco Bell  "Ten Tacos for A Dollar" deal.  Ok, it was probably more than a dollar but it was still a GREAT. DEAL! One night Teresa and I called Wes to make an emergency Taco Bell run and he and his roommate, Tom, brought back a box of tacos.  There was, conveniently, a hole in the screen of our second story window (I promise it was there when we moved in!) so Teresa and I lowered a rope (why did we have a rope?!) and Wes tied the box of tacos to the end of it and we pulled them up.  Best tacos I ever ate!

There was also the time that it snowed and Teresa and I had ordered a pizza but the pizza guy called back and said he couldn't get out of the icy parking lot to deliver said pizza.  So who ya gonna call?  Wes.  He came and got us in his little blue Toyota pickup and we slipped and slid all the way to Pizza Hut and back.  Mission accomplished. 

We used to study at the Road Runner convenience store in Caddo Valley because they had tables, were open 24 hours and they let us have free refills on our coffee.  Then we'd usually wind up at the Waffle House for their $3.99 all-you-can-eat special.

Why do all my memories involve food?

Oh, here's one that doesn't involve food.  One time the guys who lived in Conger (the REAL Conger, not that imposter that was recently torn down) ran electrical cords from the lobby to the middle of the campus and set up a TV screen so we could watch the World Series.  That was during the time that I was pretending to be interested in baseball.  Because Wes played baseball.  I didn't miss a single OBU Tiger baseball game that first year we dated.  Teresa and I, along with our suitemate, Terri, went to Panama City for spring break that year and we even surprised the team by showing up in Pensacola where they had a tournament. 

There are many more un-food-related adventures but most of those probably shouldn't be shared on the World Wide Web, especially since I happen to now work at Ouachita.  (Thanks for the health insurance, OBU!)  Let's just say that a good time was had by all. :)  Oh, and we all received stellar educations in the process.

Happy Founders Day to Ouachita! May all her skies be gay! :)