An early morning breeze sweeps through the three ajar windows directly facing me, cooling the sweat on my arms and forehead. At the same time, the clouds begin to part and the sun emerges. Its rays pierce through the windows’ glass without breaking it and scatter all across the room, causing the off-white paint job to seemingly glow. You can hear the trickle of water droplets as they jump from trees and roofs onto the ground. There is the shuffle of feet as an early morning tour passes through the adjacent courtyard. I can scarcely hear what the student guide is talking about. However, I am bewildered when he tells the prospective students and their parents that the residence hall they are looking at is called Brown. It’s Pritchard Hall I think to myself. I am half ready to yell out the window and set the record straight, but I catch myself. As I look directly up at the ceiling, there is no ventilation pipe right in front of me but an expansive space. I sit straight up and take in everything around me. Instead of the Star Wars and NASA posters that normally greet me, there are magazine cut outs of Daniel Radcliffe and Keira Knightly and other actors, actresses, and models whose names I don’t know; instead of the normal gray carpeting there are wooden floors; instead of seeing my roommate Dave passed out below me on his bed, his legs dangling off the side, there are two other lofts, both occupied, neither of them with Dave; and, instead of my Yankee paraphernalia, there is a dreaded Boston Red Sox flag overhanging one of the lofts. This is definitely not my room. I lie back down in a daze, trying to reason where I may be, when I feel a warm breath upon my neck. I turn on my side, and there next to me is the most beautiful sight in the world; it’s my baby, Louisa. She is still curled up underneath the bedcovers, fast asleep. Her hair is in a ruffle, but still looks extremely cute, and while there is no expression on her face, her cheeks give it a wonderful radiance. It begins to hit me that I am indeed no longer at Tech, and no longer even in the state of Virginia. I’m at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I had been planning a trip up to see Louisa for some time, and I was finally there and we were together again. Things were like old times, and as Forrest Gump would say, Louisa and I were like peas and carrots again. As I sat there, watching her sleep, her eyes began to flutter until she finally opened them wide and stared right back at me. She gave me a big smile and from that moment on I knew it was going to be a great day.
