shanty girls.

i've said it a million times, but i'd wrestle anyone who claims to have had a better college experience than i did. i don't know how it could be any better... for real, sometimes i crunch my brain thinking about it, and come up empty.  i could not create a recipe for a better experience.

everything about it was the best. the roommates, the house, the campus, the transition of the school from a 2 year to 4 year university and the special things that happened during those times {things that would not make sense to explain. they were things felt.}, the town - the grocery store, the small town diners + shops we made fun of, but cried tears over when they were demolished in the name of urban development. the national parks in our backyard.  the adventures we were sure to have. everything about it was theBEST.  tip top best.

and even still... 7 years after the last time i lived in that town... i'll get a mid-day message from a "shanty girl" living far across the other side of the country - or somewhere in the middle of it - that says, "i'm baking pumpkin chocolate chip cookies while listening to the indigo girls... thinking of my shanty days and missing my friends. love to you all." and i know there are a handful of girls, like teeny tiny dots on a map - scattered from east to west, north to south, simultaneous responding to the buzz on her desk, or in her purse, or on the kitchen counter... and we're all smiling at the same time.

and that's when i say, thank you cell phone idols of this new modern day... for keeping 10 girls in close contact at all times, and in all places.

i don't know how friends stayed friends way back when, like before 1999.

no matter - i like it this way best.