My daughter recently went away to school. It has been a big adjustment for us all. I miss her dearly. She has been better at calling and texting than I expected, but it’s never enough. I just miss her face. Needless to say, I was very happy for Labor Day weekend to arrive and for her to come home for three days.
Josie and I are tight. She always tells me stories from her day. I was so looking forward to hearing about her first month away at school. How were her classes? How was the roommate situation? What professor did she like the most and/or least? What clubs had she joined? How was the food? You know, going away to school basics.
Josie decided to start with a less-traditional story. It did not disappoint. As soon as she slid into the car she said, “Well, I got trapped in an elevator.” “What!?” I replied. She launched into the story.
She and a friend were headed to the basement common area of the dorm to take a break from studying. Between the first floor and the basement, the elevator just stopped. They tried several things to revive it with no luck. Josie texted her resident counselor to notify her of the situation.
Josie and her friend settled into the elevator to wait for the cavalry. The dorm staff initially tried to spring them from the trap with no success. The fire department was called in for the rescue.
This took a while. Luckily, Josie brought entertainment. She had her trusty ukulele, known as Duke the Uke, with her. She began to play for her friend. At one point a fireman complimented her skills by yelling down the elevator shaft. It’s nice to be appreciated for your talents.
Along with playing music, Josie and her friend took selfies and sent them to other friends. At the same time, friends had congregated in the lobby and were taking pics of the rescue attempt and sending those to Josie.
Eventually the elevator had to be completely turned off and back on to reset it and get it to move. Who knew you could reboot an elevator? All in all, she was in there for nearly an hour. Thank God she is not claustrophobic and did not have to pee. I would have been totally freaked out about needing to pee.
Josie’s take away from this: “We were legends for a day!” Apparently, they were the talk of the dorm and total rock stars for their brief time in captivity. Everyone was coming up to these two and asking for details or congratulating them on their escape. Ahhh, that glorious 15 minutes of fame Andy Warhol told us about.
As the weekend progressed, I did get more school stories and details on classes, teachers and such. However, I think she led with the right story. Let’s face it, she is far more likely to remember the time she got stuck in the elevator than her first chemistry lab involving an experiment with pennies.
I asked her why she didn’t call or text me from the elevator. She said, “Really? You would have freaked out.” Perhaps. However, it did make for a great story and what I feel was a much-needed break from her studying.
I think back to some of my best college memories and topping the list was a sexy soccer player walking down the hall of our dorm in just a towel. Yes, Josie has the elevator and if I close my eyes, I can still see Brian Hicks in nothing but that towel.
