Meredith Did You Know?

When I followed my sister (note older sister) to UVA. Okay that's a lie, I was going to do anything BUT follow my sister to UVA and I even told the Dean of Admissions that in no uncertain terms. I made a detour freshmen year, but the pull of The University was too much, and I transferred for my second year.  (A brief but important aside--my father received my call telling him I wanted to transfer and to this day has not said a word about the scholarship I scoffed at in the Dean's office....)

Back to the story.....

Even though Meredith only had 1 year left when I got there, she stayed for an extra 2 for graduate school, so we got three years together in our little bit of heaven on earth. We decided we would take a class together each semester so we could make sure we saw each other a couple of times a week and could keep up with what each was doing. (Remember this was the stone age--no cell phones or social media--thanks be to God.)

During the first semester I was there, we took History of American Catholicism. (I will confess every class we took we took pass/fail which was good because another class we took History of Virginia was taught by the same man who taught our father and he (DA Williams) made sure we knew Daddy got an A. Meredith announced to him and to the entire class we were fine because we were taking it pass/fail.) UVA is on the honor system, and we were allowed to take exams any time we wanted.

It was late in December, Meredith and I had been studying all day. Around 5 pm we said, "Let's just go get the exam and go ahead and take it so we can leave early in the morning." We trotted over to the basement in Cabell Hall, picked up the exam, set our alarms for 2 hours, took the exams and turned them in. The Grounds were dark and most students had already left for the Christmas break. As we were walking back to the Chi O house (don't tell, I wasn't supposed to be there...I wasn't a sister yet), we looked at each other and almost simultaneously said, "Let's just go now."

We packed quickly, loaded the car and hit the road. (We did not tell our parents our plan....)

That year, The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping" was a Christmas hit--or maybe it was just a hit for the Kanto girls. Meredith's boyfriend had made us (I like to say us--let's be honest her) a mixed tape of Christmas music for our 8 hour drive home. We drove and listened to it over and over and over--no not the whole tape, that particular song with a few others thrown in occasionally. (for your listening pleasure--Wrapping Paper)

It was dark and as we drove down 29 the night sky was lit with bright stars and the Christmas lights festively hung. It was magical. We turned the volume way up and sang at the top of our lungs. I remember feeling happier than I had in months. I remember the joy of having found my place, being with my sister, and going home. I remember wishing the drive would never end (well I wished that for the first 6 1/2 hours).

Yesterday as I was driving to church the song came on and all those feelings returned. For a few moments I was back in that car and I could feel the warmth, the love, the joy and the peace I felt then. I sang at the top of my lungs again.

When I got to church I texted my sister. She sort of remembered it (God bless her, she is older than me. She did remember the speeding ticket I got--the one she told the police officer "I told her not to speed." He, for the record, was not amused.)

All day yesterday I carried that feeling of joy, unconditional love, and the magic of that car ride.

I've been thinking--I'm glad I told my sister about my memory. I'm glad she knows how much that car ride, and I hope she can translate it to how much our relationship means to me. Transferring is hard, and as much as I loved my first semester, knowing my sister had my back and was there with me was a true Christmas miracle. I don't say that lightly.

The gift of Christmas the miracle of Christmas is love--unconditional love. And I felt that in the car that night.

This Christmas give someone the gift of unconditional love, or let someone know how they have given it to you. One encounter, one relationship at a time--it matters. You never know how it will impact another.

Merry Christmas.