First comes love...
Tia and I attended Tennessee State University. Her as an Occupational Therapist major and I as Economics and Finance major. Tia was a part of the last graduating class from that program.
In Tia’s sophomore year, my Junior year, we would be in the same Business Information Systems class. This was a required course for each of us to graduate. For me, a business major, Business Information Systems made sense as a required course. For Tia, an Occupational Therapy student, it made NO sense for Business Information Systems to be a required course. She would take that complaint to the head of her department, petition to have the class removed as a graduation requirement which would allow her to drop the class.
Sidenote: When Tia “petitions” anything, she wins. She was a tough sister. She didn’t lose many fights even when she actually lost. Those mostly came to her husband. Tia has beat the IRS, the police and her parents. She even beat death a couple times. Homegirl just didn’t lose. Back to this “petition” with the head of her department.
She lost. She would have to take the class.
Things would quickly turn for the better as her desk-mate would be a familiar face. The “little boy” she first saw at the high school basketball game. This time, he didn’t look so little anymore.
Our first homework assignment was to bring a zip disk to class the next day. If you don’t remember what a zip disk is, it was the portable storage option after the floppy disk, but before jump drives. I’m feeling super old right now and this wasn’t that long ago.
If you know me, you know I’m a visionary. I’m an idea guy. I don’t do details well. For that particular homework assignment, my mind was on how we were going to use the zip disk and not on actually bringing it to class. That’s a lame excuse for me being unprepared. But my lovely desk-mate was always over-prepared. She had 2 zip disks and to keep me from starting the year off poorly, she gave me her second zip disk.
Shortly after the zip disk assignment, I’d ask Tia if I could walk her back to her dorm. She gave me the first important yes of our lives. For the rest of the semester, after class, I would walk Tia back to her dorm. By midterms, I wasn’t just walking Tia back to her dorm, I was posting up in the lobby with her.
If you are unfamiliar with the unwritten rules of being a collegiate male. It’s imperative to avoid any public interactions with a female which could be interpreted as you having a girlfriend. This would allow you to test the waters more freely. Additionally, if you are going to the female dorm, you need to be IN her room not in the open for everyone to see. But I had it bad. I was smitten. I was in baby-college love. I’d be posted up in the lobby for hours in front of ALL the girls wooing over Tia.
I’d miss class, be late for work, even miss a meal just to steal some extra time with her. Today, I’m so glad I did.
We are given time, but time is not a given.
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