College Daze - 1st semester

**To Hassie Clare and Quinn - No matter what I tell you when you are deciding on college's or when you are away for your freshman year ... this is the honest to God's truth. So just in case the story gets sugar coated or blown out of proportion, you will have the "real" story. My mom (Nana) still tells us she had to ski 20 miles to catch a bus for school every morning!

I went off to college at 18 years old on a full volleyball scholarship. We (me, mom and dad) choose Troy State University in southern Alabama. 8 long hours away from home. No car. No friends. Did not know a soul in Troy, AL. No cell phones. No computers. I arrived on campus a month before students arrived for pre-season volleyball. The team lived in a horrendous co-ed dorm with community bathrooms. We lived on the 5th floor. No elevators. Pre-season included 3 practices a day with long runs in the early morning. It was hell. I thought I was going to die physically and emotionally. No joke.
Things improved slightly when the students arrived. I got to move into the freshman dorm. Equally as disgusting with community bathrooms and it was haunted (Shackelford Hall ... look it up). Practices got easier and the season began.
I cried every night on the phone with my mom and every morning. I had to call collect (HC and Q - google it for a definition) and it was pay by the minute for long distance. My mom would send me care packages. She would spray her perfume on wash clothes and mail them to me. I would sleep with them laying over my face. I would tuck them into my pillow case so that when I crawled into bed at night I could smell her. She also mailed me her favorite silk night gown doused in her perfume. I slept in it every night and didn't wash it for 3 months. I was 18 years old and away from my mom for the first time ever.... cut me some slack:)
I remember breaking down and begging my mom to let me move home. She said in her sweetest, motherly voice, "Of course you can leave college but where will you live? You can't live here. Where will you work? I'm sure you could get a job as a waitress since you only have a high school diploma and maybe you could live with some of the other waitresses. Why don't you call your dad and see if you can live with him."  I was so young and navie that I believed her. I envisioned me living in a box on the side of the road.
Once volleyball season began and classes started, I managed to get by. I made a few friends that were on the golf team. I enjoyed traveling with the team and the home games but my social life was limited due to curfews set by the coaching staff and athletic department.
Finally it was Christmas break. I had a decent 1st season, my grades were not up to par but I got to go home for an entire month. I had no intentions of ever coming back.
I worked at William-Sonoma in the factory through a temp service that placed college kids that were home for the holidays. I worked second shift, on the line, next to a prostitute. She didn't have a tooth in her mouth but she was full of wisdom. She shared many stories with me that left me scared, thankful and determined. I didn't see her the last week I worked there until my last day of work. She was limping, could barely walk upright and was all beat up. She told me her pimp "spanked" her. I remember going to the break room bathroom (where I spent most breaks and lunches) and crying. I wonder what ever happened to her.
I decided that night that I would change my attitude and make the most of it. I'd give it one more semester. After New Year's, I hitched a ride with the kicker off the football team that was coming through Memphis. Within 3 days of being back at college for my second semester, I was in love. No ... not with the kicker but with college life. Volleyball season was over so we didn't have a curfew. In fact, our coaching staff quit and it was a free for all for the volleyball players. I started partying like a rock star, gained the freshman 20 and was loving life. Mom knew right away things were different because several days would go by before I would call her. Fred was thankful because the $500+ telephone bills dropped tremendously:)
Life was good. I still didn't have a car. I relied on friends to take me to Walmart or the grocery. I lived off $180 per month (child support). Of course my room and board was paid for through my scholarship but I still had to pay for 4 or 5 meals a week out of pocket. I had to budget for shampoo, make-up, feminine supplies, dorm food, BEER, cover-charges at The Porch, day trips to Panama City Beach, BEER, clothes ...anything and everything I could possibly need.  I always started each semester with a huge box of Ramein Noddles (still hard for me to eat them to this day). $180 had to be stretched a long, long way.

I had fallen in love with college life. So much so that I spent the next 6 years living it at TSU. 4 years of undergrad and playing volleyball and 2 years in graduate school and coaching softball. I can't imagine what my life would have been like had my mom made it easy for me to drop out and move home. Tough love at it's finest. I have so many priceless memories from those years. I would not change one single thing about my college years!