Sorry to all, this is a real post, actually one I did on my other blog, but I thought it appropriate to share here. And if you haven't responed to Brad's note about being up for Christmas, I don't want this to push that out of the way, so go down and check it out so Brad has plenty of people to see, because I know it sucks to be there and have everybody thinking they'll catch you sometime... meaning sometime at the five-year-renunion. Okay, enough intro. Josh, if you're out there - this one's for you. Maybe not, but it is cool that you're out there. Okay, aaaand action-

Last night was a dance like most I go to, except pretty busy since the venue was closing permenantly, and the dance was free, so there was barely room to really swing dance. I noticed a friend of mine I hadn’t seen since August, and so I danced with her a few times, then with her roommates who were along for the ride. The night was alive with normalcy.
I was actually heading back toward my friend to ask her for another dance when I came face-to-face with another girl, complete stranger, but I just had the compulsion to ask her to dance. Her face lit up and she said yes as we pushed through the crowd to get somewhere with enough room for me to disappoint her. And we were moving back and forth, stepping and turning and not doing much of anything exciting when she asked if I had been dancing for a while. I said not really, just the last few months mostly. She asked me when I started. I said I actually started dancing in high school, then I didn’t dance in college, then I picked it up again when I showed up out here.
She said, “It sounds like you went to a small Christian college.’
“Yeah, I did. You?”
“Yep.’
“Where?”
“Minnesota?”
“Which school?”
“Crown-”
I stopped dancing. My mouth dropped, my brow furrowed, my eyes narrowed.
“When did you…?” I tried to ask. She didn’t look younger than me, for sure.
“I graduated in 2000.”
“I graduated in 2004.” She realized when I stopped dancing that I was a Crownie, too. It was a little less shocking for her, but not much. We were standing in the middle of a crowded dance floor, nearly yelling above the music. My mind was stuck in a land of unreality. It made no sense. This couldn’t happen. I tried to get my mind to work again. I tried to think of the oldest student I knew.
“Did you know Michael Patrick.”
It was as though I had confirmed the intimate connection we had. She was thinking too. I started to say Andy Stumbo, but only got Andy out, and she said McCuen (not sure how to spell his last name). My legs started working again, my only at a beginner level. I was mostly shuffling back and forth, not even trying to turn her, spin her, wow her in any way. My mind couldn’t escape Crown enough to dance, really for the rest of the night.
The song was over, and almost awkwardly we parted ways for a while.
I waited for a bit and asked her again to dance. I told her I’d really try to dance this time and not rack my brain for people we’d both know. We mostly talked about Portland and how I ended up out there. It turned out that this girl, Elisha, knew my friend Ariel that I had just seen earlier that night. They went to church together. Elisha grew up C&MA, like nobody does in Portland.
After the second dance, I wasn’t getting any better. I wandered over to Elisha in the corner of the room; probably the last thing she wanted was conversation from someone by all practical accounts a stranger. I asked her if she knew Anastasia Gianoulis. I told her about Scott and Christina. I asked her if she knew Dr. Donelson. I told her about Molly. I seriously wanted to hear about Crown from her. It’s like hearing stories about your parents from their long lost friends - the place you know back and forth seen in a different time by a different person. I wanted to get her number, not like I usually want to get a girl’s number, but because I serioulsy wanted to sit and have coffee and talk Crown. It was like this human-sized piece of that stone building just fell in front of me, and I wanted to enjoy the connection that was there, but I couldn’t. Elisha seemed much less interested in me than I in her. I couldn’t ask her for her number without it being the wrong message. So I said goodnight, told her I was sure we’d run into each other again, and left - confounded like I haven’t been ever in my life.
What just happened? I couldn’t remember her last name, or I would have some people do some research. I still got this weird feeling about it this morning while getting on the train into the city. This is ridiculous. Nobody goes to Crown and ends up out here without me knowing it! Nobody!
I do sitll want to catch her and talk Crown. It sounds stupid, I know. Most Crownies just stay so close to home that they can’t miss it like I do. They could drive a half-hour and see it isn’t home anymore, and leave satisified. I just have to dream, and remember, and imagine. That’s the best I can do.