Mail from My Roomie

Yesterday was a long day and I was pretty tired when I finally unlocked the door and let go of the bags, mail, and assortment of personal stuff I was carrying in from the cold. As I took off my coat, I saw that I had received a Christmas card from a lovely new friend. That brightened me up, so I pushed the bags aside and dealt with the mail first.

At the bottom of the stack was a large envelope from Virginia Intermont College and I almost tossed it in with the direct mail that would be deposited in the recycle bag directly. But my son just took the GRE and is looking into graduate schools, so I thought better of it. Virginia Intermont? Did they have a graduate program in Exercise Physiology? Did the small college in southwest Virginia even have graduate programs at all? Virginia Intermont? Did I remember it was a Baptist School? It tickled a memory from my Baptist youth when a portion of our home missions offerings went to several small Baptist colleges in Virginia.

But the big envelop wasn't addressed to my son. It was addressed to me. Well, had they learned that I was back in school pursuing a degree in Speech-Language Pathology? I knew they didn't have a graduate program in that field. Oh well, probably a solicitation or junk of some sort. I ripped it open while heading to the recycle bin with it and the junk mail. But then, I saw that huge, infectious, familiar smile.

Clo! My William and Mary roomie, Clo Phillips was on the cover. Dr. E. Clorissa Phillips, the new president of Virginia Intermont College. I quickly found a chair and read the article from beginning to end. My Clo. I'm so proud of her! She's an accomplished pianist? I didn't know that. A lot can happen in 33 years.

Clo and I were roommates at William and Mary during our junior and senior years. We had met as freshman pledges to Pi Beta Phi sorority and had a common friend, my boyfriend, who was from the small town of Dayton, which is just outside of Harrisonburg, where she grew up. My boyfriend and Clo were both interested in collegiate careers and have both gone on to fulfill their goals. The three of us would laugh and laugh. Oh what fun, what a warm and fuzzy memory of those happy college days.

But when I look back on it I think that it is quite a shame that I didn't get to know Clo better or keep in touch. It was college in the 70s, you know, and William and Mary was tough. Outside of class, I spent most of my time with my boyfriend and Clo had the room to herself a lot. I remember that she was bright and studious, nearly always at her desk when I came in, working hard. Often wearing those crazy can-sized rollers on top of her head. Always wanting to impress a certain, few, carefully-chosen boys. But what I remember most about Clo is that she had a great, great, great personality and was always fun to be with. I can't seem to recall her ever complaining or being rude. She was, and is, I assume, a fine person. I appreciate the fact that she was a part of my life perhaps more than she will ever know.

Pi Beta Phi House with Bray School behind

On the last day of classes during our senior year in college, I was in a car crash that sent me to the hospital for a month and a half. I was in and out, mostly out, so don't know exactly what Clo did or didn't do for me during that time. I heard that she stood in line for me at the music department and when it was my turn to perform a piece on the piano for the final, she stepped in to tell my teacher, as well as the judges, that I wouldn't be there. Funny. I took piano lessons, yet never knew that Clo played too. Was I not paying attention? Anyway, I guess my family leaned on her pretty heavily as they gathered up my possessions from our room in the Pi Phi house. We were from quite different backgrounds. I always wondered if something happened then that I don't know about, because Clo didn't befriend me after college.

People go their separate ways for any number of reasons, so who knows? The neuropsychologist that worked with me in 2004 told me that if they had know then what they know now about traumatic brain injury (TBI), I would have never been allowed to do the things that I did following the crash, like going to graduate school and moving to a strange city alone. If it wasn't something that happened in the initial weeks following the crash, I certainly might have said or done something wrong or stupid to alienate Clo in the early years following the accident. After I was diagnosed as having received a moderate traumatic brain injury (27 years after the fact!), I read the book illustrated here. The author was coping with mild TBI and did some pretty thoughtless things. I just shutter to imagine what I did in those first 5 years following my moderate TBI when I was pretty much alone in the world.

Well, this post isn't supposed to be about me. Yet my memories of Clo are all wrapped up in these bits and pieces of memory and a difficult period of my life. Excuse me.

So ... Congratulations, Clo! Your old roomie is so proud of you. You look beautiful and your family is gorgeous. I can close my eyes and imagine you confidently and surefootedly working with boards and legislators and all the powers that be in your world. With your strength of character, intellect and quick wit, you will surely be a remarkable college president. What a beautiful place "among the mountains" to live and thrive. All my best wishes for your continued success and the future of Virginia Intermont! Perhaps I should write this down on a card and send it to you. Yes, I'll do that.