Oregon State, fight, fight, fight!
I just spent most of the last 4 days at a conference held at Oregon State University. Which, if you haven’t been able to tell already, is the college I graduated from.
My experience there in the mid to late 80’s was great, and every time I step foot on campus I get a rush of those feelings of freedom and independence I had when I first cruised into Corvallis with my carload of belongings.
It was the summer of 1985. Linda and I drove down to check out the campus and spent a day looking at places for rent. We were 19 and had no clue, really, what we were doing. Neither of us had lived on our own. Fortunately for us, fortune does favor the foolish. We lucked out and after not much looking we found an apartment. It was a funky little place that was actually the top floor apartment in a house. Two bedrooms, one bath, tiny kitchen, decent living room with window seats, and an excellent roof we could climb out on and smoke cigarettes. Yes, we smoked then. What were we thinking? I surely don’t know, but we’re better now.
I loved that place… so many great memories from that time. Linda and Dan ended up getting together (introduced by me… a fact I like to remind them of even now, 20 years later) while we lived there; our furnace exploded and spewed soot everywhere while Linda, poor girl, was at the apartment… I came home to find her, bundled up in soot-covered blankets trying to stay warm; we danced around the place to Prince and hung out with James Taylor playing in the background; ordered sandwiches delivered from Togo’s even though it was only a block away; ate a lot of pizza from Woodstock’s; spent many nights studying to the crack of dawn; attended meetings of the Psych Club (yeah, we were officers); wore garbage bags over us at football games to protect us from the rain; saw Howard Jones; handled Hugo the rat; learned a little something; and laughed, a lot.
All of it comes back to me when I step on the campus, and if close my eyes I can still see us dancing… and I can still hear us yelling… O-S-U… Oregon State, fight, fight, fight.
Written July 14, 2006
Those were the days!! O-S-U… Oregon State fight, fight fight!! Did you swing by the old place? Are Togos and Woodstocks still there????