Surprises

College was a wonderful experience for me. I went there with my best friend and we roomed together, making it a less scary event, leaving the small town where we were so close knit.

It was only a matter of days, our freshman year at Mankato State, before friendships formed. There was a group of eight of us from our floor, I-3, that bonded. We weren't snobby and didn't welcome others into our group but we certainly were tight.

Our doors were always open to each other and we did everything together. There were two Jodys (one spelled her name with an "i" so to keep them separate when we talked in a group we referred to them as Jod-y and Jod-i), Terri (who preferred being called Cook, her last name), Jeanne, Rosemary, Sandy, Ruth and I.

As our birthdays came throughout the school year, we made a point of decorating the birthday girls' door with handmade posters which all the rest of us helped make and wrote personal messages. I wish I had held on to things like that but of course that was 34 years ago and they have been lost for a long time.

Ruth stayed with us only that first year and got married that summer; a couple others from that group remain only in memories as well.

I received a wonderful surprise last week - an email from Ruth. She tracked my name using a silly card I had sent out to everyone I knew back 25 years ago, announcing our engagement. She must have stuffed the card away and found it recently.

She also said she had tried numerous time to try to get a hold of some of us for years but had no luck, not knowing anyone's married names. I am ashamed now that I didn't get a hold of her; after all, I knew her married name and where she lived.

There was a picture of her on her website - she is the owner of two businesses in Fairmont, Minn. - and she looks the same as she did when I saw her 34 years ago. (She always had the most beautiful long, straight brown hair.)

What blew me away the most from our online conversation was when she said her daughter, Jessica Biede, is a teacher at St. Mary's.

For goodness sake! I have said hello to Jessica when at the school and even did a story for the paper on her and the mock trial team she used to help with.

Know as I think about it, there is such a similarity between mother and daughter and I wonder why I did not notice it before.

Connected again, Ruth and I are planning on getting together again in March when she comes to baby sit the grandkids. I can't wait and will fill her in on the other MSU friends that I keep in touch with. (I am sure we will not even have a second to breathe we will be talking so much!)

Life is funny sometimes and so surprising.

I love surprises.

Here's hoping you get a wonderful surprise soon that will make you smile, too.