Moving into a dorm at Central Michigan University was a big deal for me. My parents were the over-over-protective, controlling types. They never even let me go to 7th grade camp. So... when they found out I'd applied for and been accepted to Central, they were not best pleased.
Fucking pissed off as all hell is another way of putting it.
My father and I had a screaming match over it. He wanted me to stay at home where he could keep an eye on me. My mother wanted me to stay at home so I could take care of my ageing father when she worked.
I wanted to get the hell out of that poisonous environment.
And so I did.
Thinking of my first day at Central always makes me smile. It started with the look on my father's face when he realized that my dorm building was co-ed. (I... uh... may have forgotten to mention it beforehand. Oops.)
Then, there was the cringe-worthy lecture my father gave me before he left: ''No girlfriends, no black boyfriends, no face piercings, no tattoos.'' (I pierced my belly button less than a month later because, hey, it wasn't my face.)
Meeting our roommates was interesting. The four of us seemed to hit it off immediately. It probably helped that one of our roommates' mothers made us Jello shots. (Yes, we were all underage.)
My year at Central didn't end as well as it began but those first few days were an absolute riot. They'll always be a favourite memory of my school years.
