LITTLE FISH IN A VERY BIG POND

There were other kids from my home stake that were going to be freshmen at Brigham University that fall.  But I had arrived a couple of weeks ahead of all of them.  Since I was living with Linda and barely knew my roommates, I was on my own for those few weeks...a little fish in a pond of 25,000 students and basically a nobody.  This was long before cell phones, email and texting.  I didn't know if I was ever going to connect with anyone from home. I clearly remember sitting on the steps of the Wilkinson Center one afternoon and seeing Kent Miller, a boy from home, walking towards the building.  Kent had dated a good friend of mine and we knew each other well.  I jumped up and ran toward him.  It was great to see a familiar face from home.  We spent a lot of time together during the first months of school.  He knew that I was "waiting" for a missionary who was his former girlfriend's brother.  We never officially date, but we did go to a lot of dances together especially the socials that were held in his dorm just off campus and down the street from where I lived.  I eventually connected with Norene.  But didn't see her often because her dorm was on the opposite side of campus from I lived.  I think that we may have had a Book of Mormon class together that first semester.

Thanks goodness for student wards.  They provided a way to meet people and have some connections in a smaller environment.  Most of the freshman classes were required courses and were huge.  Most of them were held in the large auditoriums through out campus.  They didn't provide much of an opportunity to meet people.