Friday, November 7, 2008

flashback friday #5

Tonight after having dinner with teachers number 5, 7, 2, and 18 (after a very long and stressful week), I headed over to a nearby high school to watch a gal from church play Anne in the musical Anne of Green Gables. I took my class to see her in Schoolhouse Rock last spring and this time she got the lead! She had a whole cheering section there of friends from our small group at church. She was magnificent!!! I can totally see why they picked her to play the part of Anne. Way to go Lindsey!!!!!!!!

That got me to thinkin' about the first time I became acquainted with Anne of Green Gables. It just so happened to be at Word of Life Bible Institute in Pottersville, New York, where I spent my first year of college. They don't call it the Word of Life Bubble for nothing. We got no tv. No radio. No Walkmans. Nothing but total sheltering and Jack's Snack Shack. (Except that I roomed with Cathy Hagerman and she broke the rules!!! Oh yes, we used to hide up on her bed when Julie Kough - another one of our roommates - was gone, listening to Wilson Phillips when we should've been reading for Bible Survey.)

We had so much fun there in Europe Lower Room #16. There were four of us. Melissa, Julie, Cathy, and me. We had a microwave, a refrigerator, a big huge stop sign, and not to mention, great neighbors. (Hi, Sandra!) We heard Julie digging through her makeup box every morning looking specifically for her 529-A lipstick. We enjoyed the microwave muffins Cathy's sister used to send us all the time. The whole dorm would be jealous. And despite the crappy curtains that Word of Life wouldn't let my mom take down and replace, we had a great view out our dorm window. This photo. . .circa fall of 1991.

That, my faithful readers, is Schroon Lake. Nine miles of blessed peaceful waters in which I once nearly died, after getting wacked on the head by someone's foot while being thrown from some water toy pulled by a speed boat called a hot dog. Skip Mason jumped out of the boat and saved my life and I will be forever grateful to him. (OK, I'm making it out to be a little worse than it actually was. But he did jump off the boat because I my head was bleeding. Turns out, that girl's toenail scratched me across the head!!!!)

Anyway, it was after the Valentine's Banquet when they showed the first part in Council Hall. . .on the big screen. Then either the next night or a few nights later - I can't even remember now - they showed Anne of Avonlea. I was immediately hooked for life. I've seen the movies lots of times, was a Megan Follows stalker-fan for a while, and have read (I think) all of the books. I've even read them aloud at school. I didn't know until tonight that it existed in musical form.

Ahhh. . . Anne and Gilbert. They've defined romance for us all. It goes like this . . .True love always.

2 comments:

Kellie said...

I love Anne of Green Gables and I need to watch that with Mikayla... she'd love them, too.

I have been to Schroon Lake.. went there in '89 for my Senior Trip. It is beautiful, but after being in New York City for a few days beforehand we found ourselves a bit bored. lol I am sure now I would enjoy that peaceful time. At 18 you don't think so much that way. lol

Sandra said...

Ahh...wolbi memories. Some of the best kind. I too remember Julie Van scrounging through her gigmundous makeup up box through the paper thin walls of Europe lower. And listening to Harry Connick Jr. on my smuggled walkman. :) Do you remember in the summer when all the Inn stc girls watched Anne for 4 straight Sunday afternoons? And then me, you, Cathy, and Karen got the Inn conference room to ourselves in our pajamas to see the end? Good times. I can still hear the sigh go up from all the girls when Anne and Gilbert finally kiss on the bridge.