Ciao Lubbock! (part one)

As Dunte, Tori and I prepare to move to (a yet unknown house) in Austin, I have been thinking a lot about our time in Lubbock and this house specifically. This may be a two part-er, so we’ll start with Lubbock in general.

I decided to come to Texas Tech, Dunte decided to go to New Mexico Tech, and we decided to stay together. It is a well-known fact that freshman year of college is brutally hard. Naturally, we thought making it harder with a long distance relationship would be brilliant.

Koko and I lived in a tiny box of a dorm room for the first semester of freshman year. I spent most of that first semester sick, mono, kidney infection, you know the fun stuff. There were a few of us who were from my high school at Texas Tech as freshman together, and we were all without a car, a typical, but frustrating situation. I sold my horses, which was hard and heartbreaking. Then I used the money from one of the horses to buy an old Jeep Cheroke, shortly after buying it I was driving down 190 in Harker Heights when my wheel, yes my entire wheel, flew off the car. I miraculously stopped the car and wasn’t hurt, but I would soon watch the Jeep, and the money from my horse, get hauled away as scrap metal. That did hurt.

 Dunte and I would talk on the phone in the evening sometimes, on the computer others. We had some very fun and exciting visits that year, weekend visits were a relationship on steroids after being apart for so long.

It wasn’t all bad, there was a lot of football, and good football at that. Of course, Texas Tech’s amazing win over No. 1 Texas jumps immediately to mind. Koko, Jon and I waited in line for at least four hours, managed to snag spectacular seats, which we of course stood on the entire time. We rushed the field (the third, and appropriate time) and partied the weekend away. Several friends were in town, and I will never forget that weekend.

Oh and I cut my hair super short Fall of freshman year.

In December, Koko was tired of Texas Tech and went home. Absolutely the right decision for her, but it left me some very, very strange roommates. First there was Courtney, a 26 year-old physical therapy student. She only stayed for 10 weeks as part of a fellowship program, but she ate a lot of tune in that 10-week period. She was fun enough, but I was really hoping that when she left I would have the whole room to myself for the rest of the semester. Then there was Katherine, who liked turtles and had some questionable hygienic practices. As far as I could tell, she never left the room. So I did my best to stay out of it. This was easier, since mono wasn’t making me sleep 18 hours a day. I played poker (badly) with a group of friends every week. AJ came to visit for a weekend. I took him to a house party, that to this day, is still the craziest party I have even been to. Jello shots, enough said.

Dunte and I went camping in New Mexico a couple of times that spring. One not-so-successful trip, we almost froze to death. Word to the wise, it gets cold in New Mexico in February, especially at night. But we made it out alive, and even had the gall to do it again. Our spring breaks didn’t line up, so I went to New Mexico during mine, and Dunte came to Lubbock during his. Spending time together when we actually had to go to class, and have responsibilities was a challenge. But spending two weeks together was great. 

I learned spring semesters pass fast, at some point during that semester. Dunte decided he would transfer to Texas Tech. I was thrilled, but nervous he would move to the wrong college just for me. Summer time came with a whirlwind of activities. The first was an engagement, which you can read about here.

Dunte and I on our way to our engagement weekend camping trip.

During that summer, my dad came home from Iraq, I celebrated my 19^th birthday with Mia and a giant group of friends, there was the Festival that will live in infamy. Dunte and I took a trip to Ft. Sill and Ft. Leavenworth to visit old friends of mine. My family and I visited Pittsburgh and DC on our way to Germany. And I worked two jobs that summer, it was lots of care-free fun.

Then sophomore year started, and it was time to buckle down. Dunte was living in Lubbock, playing rugby, and working for Vector, and going to Texas Tech. Mia and I were living with two other roommates in Murray hall. Not a bad living situation other than a few mishaps. On Oct. 6, 2009, we found out we were expecting a baby. Surprise! Like I said, buckle down.

Fall semester was grumpy, and morning sickness strewn. I went to Germany for Christmas break, tearing up the slopes at 4 months pregnant. And by tearing up I mean leaving my ski-pants un-buttoned and not falling at all costs.

When spring came around, things started to get a little less scary, and a little more exciting. I was still taking 17 hours in school, I also started an internship with Texas Tech Athletics Communications. In February, Dunte and I were walking around registering for baby gifts. I had been limping around and was stiff, but ignored it. We were having such a fun, nice day. At one point we realized that my left leg was much larger than my right and had some definite purple hues to it. Off to the emergency room we went. I had a blood clot, which I just had surgery to repair this past April. I had a fairly stubborn attitude about the whole thing. I was supposed to work an athletic event on Sunday afternoon, when I was still in the hospital Sunday morning, Dunte finally had to convince me I was not going to be able to make it. I think I missed two classes the week after spending the weekend in the hospital. I hobbled my way to all the others. We found out we would be having a little girl, and spirited name discussions began. My wonderful friends threw us a baby shower, and we were busy getting everything ready.

On May 1, we moved into our apartment in Deerfield Village. I was pretty pregnant, and once again our friends stepped up and helped us so much. I finished my last final on May 10^th and Victoria was born on May 18^th. The timing couldn’t have been better; especially considering my mom had some serious flight delays and didn’t get here until May 16^th. Dunte and I lived together for two weeks before Tori was born, and we did our best to get good at in a hurry. I learned one should close cabinet doors, and have confidence in your cohabitation’s handyman skills. Then Tori arrived and the learning curve got pretty crazy. And wonderful. 

This concludes part one the farewell Lubbock posts. Part two isn’t far behind, I promise.