Epilogue - Scrapbook

A few weeks into the second semester, a letter arrived in my mailbox. The envelope was from Oberlin College. It read as follows:

Dear Mark,

It didn't take me too much longer to decide that Allegheny wasn't the place for me, after all. I wasn't kidding about Columbia, but they were out of my price range, so I'm at Oberlin now--it's a perfect fit.

I just wanted you to know that I'm doing better here. I tried doing things your way, just presenting yourself as is. I'm not so good at it, yet, but I'm making friends. Not that I don't still push people around, but I thought you'd like to know I'm "improving."

It didn't take me long to figure out that you blocked me on AIM, so that's why I sent you this snail mail. I want you to know that I forgive you for everything, and hope that you'll do the same for me eventually. You're a nice guy, I'm sure you'll bring yourself to do it eventually. Katalin doesn't call you Saint Mark for nothing.

Speaking of which, how are you two? Together, I hope. The story about the old man was lie, but the other part was true. I really did lose my mom to breast cancer when I was in middle school, but my dad's an office drone in his fifties in real life, not some aging mogul. Can't blame a guy for dreaming, can you?

I just wanted to let you know why you won't be seeing me around campus, and to know that I'm open to being friends again, if you are. Oh, and I've got a new screenname, inspired by you: "LordByron509". I'll see you around.

Take care.

-"Lord" Byron Chandler

I kept the letter, and we chat online every once and awhile. We're not the friends we used to be, but we're on better terms than when he left.

I still have the pictures from Paige's wedding, too. Katalin drove into Cleveland for a few days at my request, (and without protest; we'd been apart for a month by then, plus she wanted to meet the girl that I'd told her so much about) and we attended the wedding together.

My two favorite pictures of the event hang next to each other on my wall. One has Tanya (Paige's best friend and Maid of Honor) and Katalin standing on either side of Paige. Tanya has on a red-and-black, retro-punk dress and has green hair. Katalin is wearing a sensible sky blue dress. Then there's Paige standing bombastically between them, her left shoulder a colorful block of floral pattern tattoos behind her pure white wedding dress. It looks as though Paige is the midpoint between Tanya's over-the-top punk look and Katalin's more traditional look. The thing that makes the picture great is Tanya and Paige's gung-ho expressions compared to Katalin's look that's more along the lines of "You're nineteen, married, and have a kid. Exactly what are you so thrilled about?"

The other picture is one of me holding three-month-old Joanna Turner (Katalin pointed out to me that Paige's legal name is now "Paige Turner," a revelation that got a chuckle out of me) with a look on my face that says, "Thank God this isn't mine."

So there you have it, the triumphs and tears of my first semester at college. My adventure in real life.

The End

Originally posted on January 18th, 2005