A DIs or Miss?

I made several friends from orientation the first week I arrived at Cornell.  Many of these friends were from departments in their graduate programs that were part of the endowed part of CU.  Translation = better events and MUCH better free food.  In contrast, I was in the state school.  Translation = cheese and crackers for special guests 2-3x a semester.

I often tagged along with my friends to poetry and fiction readings, including Maya Angelou and Tim O'Brien.  After the events, we ate like kings.  As a graduate student, free food was never to be taken lightly.  And free good food was even better.  Well, that was worth the long trek down campus by foot or a 15 min search for a parking place by car.

At one such event, I went along with some friends to a function the English Department was throwing at a professor's house.  It was an annual event I was told.    Several friends and I were down on the edge of the lake (the "beach") standing around chatting.  Another woman joined in the conversation.  The only thing I remember about her was her hair.  It was long.  Crystal Gayle long.  She waved it back and forth a bit like Cher, but without all that annoying lip smacking.

After a few minutes of conversation, she says (and I remember this clearly even though it was well over 10 years ago), "I'm going to stand by the fire."  She took one step backwards and turned around.  Yep.  She just turned her back on us.

Really.  Did she mean it?  Or just happen to have a fire close by and she was cold.  I like to think the latter.  Still makes me laugh and shake my head with a wry smile every time I think about.  Her words forever become the ultimate inside joke.  Instead of "excuse me" it became "I'm going to go stand by the fire."

A timeless classic.