Happy 4th

Steve and I celebrated our 4th anniversary of meeting this past weekend. For those who don't know, we met on match.com. I don't remember how long we emailed and talked on the phone before we actually met, but I don't think it was long. We met at the local Applebees. We got there at 7 and were still there at 11. The waitress kept coming over to see if we needed anything. Luckily they were not crowded. When I told her this was our first date she said "I know". She must have seen a lot of first dates. Anyway, I think we both knew we wanted to continue seeing the other.
I took him to my dad's for Christmas eve and I met his family for February birthdays. By March, we were talking about moving in together and we did at the end of June. I never thought I could feel so sure about something. I've lived with 2 other guys and they did not turn out well. And looking back, I knew from the beginning that they wouldn't. But with Steve, it was totally different. I had absolutely no doubts. And I have had no doubts in the four years we've been together. People always say that I must love it when he goes away for scouts, but I hate it. I really miss him. I can't imagine a better fit than I have with him.

Diane Latosek, Mary Ricker, Becky Hudson and Brian Ricker

two guys are Brian and Dave Bell

The student union has totally changed. In place of a dark snack bar with booths you could have secret meetings, you have new tables with a lot of light. No juke box. These kids don't know what they're missing.

The campus now even has a rec center where you can work out.

Centennial Hall has changed quite a bit. The down stairs has a flat screen tv and modern furniture. This glassed in area on the 3rd floor, where I lived, is a lounge area. But when I was there, it was all open and there was a door you could go outside to a deck and lay out in the sun. That's all locked up now. Mary's daughter is living in my old room -324.

There is a brand new dorm behind Centennial Hall. It has suites with two separate rooms w/2 people per room. They share one bathroom and have a common room. It is so bright and cheery. Lots of windows. They have their own in dorm store. Each room has a small kitchen area and then there is a bigger one on each floor.

Things have certainly changed. Oh yeah, it's coed, as are all the dorms.

The new and improved Missouri Hall. They are renovating one hall every year.

This is a sign at the corner that I lived on my Junior year. It was routinly stolen.

Kirksville town square is pretty much unchanged except for a few new businesses and just off the square is a big movie theatre. And Pagliais has outdoor seating.

A slice of life

The gang at Pagilais Pizza

Ah youth

I've added a link to another blog. It's my niece, Emily's, boyfriend's blog. He is in France right now studying architecture. He has been to Munich for Oktoberfest and put pictures from that. He also has pics from his room and other things. Emily is going over there for Christmas. Ah, young love.

Mom finally moves

My parents got divorced almost 25 years ago. My mom moved into a flat and has been there ever since. She's been at 5 landlords (4 of whom should never have owned property). Every year for many years she has been telling us she was going to move. And every year there was another excuse not to. But she finally had enough of her walls leaking when it rained and no heat in the kitchen. She is moving tomorrow. Her new place is wonderful. The landlady is a woman in her 60's who works all day. She and mom have bonded. They have already spent hours talking. The lady had the whole place painted and cleaned so that mom didn't have to do a thing but move in. She has so much room. Every room has a closet. She has wall to wall carpeting. She has a back porch with a ceiling fan. The basement is immaculate and the lady has a treadmill down there if mom wants to use it.
We've been pushing her to do this for a long time. I think she will be very happy about it. The pics below are some of the new place.