
Read Dormitory. When I lived there, a double room and meals were about $1,600/year. Now, the room alone is $5,853 for the year!
During my freshman year in college, I lived in one of the female dorms at Indiana University on the Bloomington campus.
There were several good-looking guys on campus. In the 60’s vernacular, Victor would have been described as “fine”. He was about 5’8”, dark brown-skinned and had a very smooth vocal delivery. You get the picture. He was swoon material.
So, when I got a call from Victor asking me to go out on Friday night to see Agony and the Ecstasy at the movies, I near-bout died!! I was so excited I could hardly think straight. Of course, I told all my friends and roommates.
On Friday night, he was late. I began to think that he had changed his mind about me and had stood me up. The movie started at 7:30 PM. No one had cars as freshman and the dorm was a 15 minute walk to the movies. At 7:15 PM, I was really discouraged. Then at 7:17PM, he rang me from the dorm lobby to come on down.

Shar during her Freshman Year at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
I was exhilarated and redeemed from utter embarrassment. I rushed to the elevator and went down one flight to the lobby of Read Dormitory. I was floating on air and shaking with excitement. In the short elevator ride, I had practiced several poses, smiles and opening lines.
When the elevator door opened, I was beyond shock.
It was the wrong Victor!! Where was the “fine” Victor? This Victor was short, stocky and nothing to write home about.
I felt like I had been body slammed!
Luckily, I saw him before he saw me. Well, I could have won an Academy Award for the quick change in my expression. I was friendly and polite to Victor. After all, it wasn’t his mistake, it was mine.
He apologized for being late. He said we would have to hurry or we’d miss the start of the movie. He headed towards the door where you could get a taxi. I thought, “Well he has class and some money. We are going by taxi.”
When we got to the door, he opened it for me and said, “We’ve got to run so we won’t miss the start of the movie!”
I was so dumb-founded that I couldn’t think. So I just ran along with him.
We made it to the movie on time. The run wore him out. So…. he snored through the 3 hour movie. I couldn’t concentrate on the movie for thinking about my predicament.
YES, I laughed my head off about my mistake when I got back to the dorm. And NO, I never went out with him again.
Shar
I think we all wish we could erase some dark times in our lives. But all of life’s experiences, bad and good, make you who you are. Erasing any of life’s experiences would be a great mistake. – Luis Miguel