I attended a small women's college in Milwaukee. It was 700 miles from where I grew up in Pennsylvania and when I arrived, it was the first time in my life I had ever been truly alone and on my own. Lucky for me--in my first days there I connected with a group of friends who've been one of the real bedrock constants of my life ever since.
Most of the group live nearby enough to meet for dinner occasionally, and we have done some travelling together. When these reunions come up, we all meet, do the required events at the school and then haul oursleves out of Dodge as quickly as possible, adjourn to some convivial place, and spend the rest of the weekend celebrating ourselves. That was pretty much the pattern of our college years too.
And so this weekend I did a bit of this:
And a WHOLE lot of this:
The upper photo has me with St. Aloyse Hessburg, SSND, longtime chair of the Fashion Design department at the college. She and I spent a LOT of quality time together way back when. Yes, there was a time when I planned to turn the world of fashion on its ear. I eventually left those dreams behind, although I can drape a pattern or draft one, hand overcast seam allowances, and insert underarm gussets with the best of them. Thanks to Sr. Aloyse, there is NOTHING in sewing that intimidates me.
The lower photo shows the general merriment level of the rest of the weekend, once we left the official part of the reunion.
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
Jane Howard.
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