1983: Fate

Here's me as a freshman at Concordia College in Portland, Oregon. My friend Ed Bierman just posted these pictures on his Facebook, and some of my college friends and I have been laughing at ourselves.

Notice my preppy look. I Loved that look. It was very Martha Stewart before she was even a household name. Martha probably wore penny loafers, but I'm not sure. I wanted to be her. I had just been introduced to her "Entertaining" book that year, I think.

I won that Super Man blow up doll at the Lane County Fair. I loved Christopher Reeves (I'm still so sad about his horse accident and untimely death and all,) and I wished I was Lois Lane.

So, in a nutshell, back in 1983, when I was a freshman in college, I wanted to be a cross between Martha Stewart and Lois Lane. Now that it's 2008, I like to think I am.

But here's the really freaky thing: the day I met my husband, back in 1992, he was wearing Penny Loafers and red socks. He was also wearing a black silk shirt and he had a mustache, sideburns that were too long, and looked suspiciously like a cable guy. He was a cross between tall-skinny-geeky and funky retro that was hard for me to figure out.

But I noticed his loafers and red socks right away. I liked them. I wasn't sure about him, but I liked his socks and his shoes.

I'd forgotten that I wore Penny loafers and red socks regularly too, until I saw this picture tonight. Of course I remembered I had loafers, but didn't really think about the red socks thing and how my shoes and socks matched the shoes and socks of my future husband, whom I was to meet ten years later.

It was fate, I tell you. And now I fly with him regularly.