Years ago I was a college student at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Our dorm was about 5 miles from the campus and it had been a boarding school for young girls in the 1920's. The building was like a beautiful old hotel with winding staircases and an old elevator. The whole place was filled with antique furniture.
The dorm had several floors, but it also had a tower room at the very top of the building. One of the traditions was for the some of the guys to serenade us at about midnight, several times during the school year. Once in awhile one of the girls was dating one of the serenaders, so word would leak out that 'tonight was the night'.
We would rush up that very top winding staircase to the tower room with our hair in big rollers, in our pj's, bathrobes and slippers, and we were always so excited!! Soon we heard the cars driving down the small road, they dimmed their lights so we would be surprised, and we waited expectantly, crowding around the windows and looking down at the little muffled lights of their flashlights as they gathered, while we waited for the first song to begin...
I would just LOVE to have had a recording of some of those beautiful songs. Those guys could really sing, no piano, no music, just their group, most of them were in the school quartet or choral groups.
I have no idea why I'm sharing this. There is no hidden point or deep message, just some wonderful memories...
'For all we know we may never meet again'... or
'Blue shadows on the trail'... or
'Red sails in the sunset'...
I can just hear them right now...
(Westmont photo by Megan T.Guffey)
28 comments:
sonja, you painted the most sweet picture... innocence. love. new beginnings. hope.
thank you!
A lovely memory to share .. thank you!
Oh, the true, innocent romance of it all! What a wonderful memory to have! Thanks for sharing it! :)
I just love, love reading your stuff...this is just magically...and just right for the month of February.
My husband would play the piano and sing while the girls all gathered around the piano...this was years before we dated...it was already a lost art. I can still see them...and they still talk about it all these years later.
What precious memory...thanks for sharing, I so enjoyed.
Oh I tried getting out...bad, bad, decision!!! I slide all over the place and started praying, "please Lord get me home and I won't do this again"...the boys were with me, we were having cabin fever and wanted a pizza....dumb, dumb, dumb...my son got out and ended in a ditch...this ice up here is horrible. What a winter storm for us Texans!!
Memories are wonderful things to have! I have so enjoyed listening the the picture that you painted with words here!
Dear Sonja,
Those are special and beautiful memories.
Red sails in the sunset, sung by Pat Boone could melt any girls heart.
I bet you had some special singing for you too.
A trip back in time, wonderful memories, dreams dreamed. What a great post, thanks Sonja.
Andie
Sonja - A wonderful word picture that you shared. Thank you. There does not always have to be a deep meaning, just and good sharing. Thank you for this one. ...Marsha
Wonderful, sweet memory! I doubt that sort of thing happens much anymore! :-)
I love this!! I'm such a hopeless romantic. My husband can not sing a note. I mean really... not a note. When we were in college, he was in a fraternity so he had the entire pledge class come and serenade me. It was wonderful. He just stood there sort of rocking back on his heels with a sheepish look on his face. I'll never forget it.
I wish I had lived in a romantic dorm with a turret room!!!
Of course, after they sang the sweetheart song, they also sang "Mr. Moon" to be funny. That part is pretty good too. LOL
This is a beautiful memory and very worthy of sharing! Thanks!
Memories are as much a part of who we are as the color of our hair, or our height. I love it when they surface accompanied by joy. These were obviously days of joy for you.
Those old songs ... love 'em!!! My parents loved music, and it was a focal point in our home. The Andrews Sisters, the Welk clan, Benny Goodman and others provided hours of enjoyment. Now you've got ME remembering ...
Hugs,
Kathleen
P.S. I'm so-o-o-o glad those hair rollers are a thing of past for most of us.
My Nephew is at Westmont now. I can't think of a more beautiful place to go to school and I am so glad you shared this. It is a very nice story. Sometimes it is nice to just share so people like me can read history's.
Memories are the threads in the tapestry of our life. And oh what a beautiful tapestry you are, Sonja!
Thanks for sharing!
HE IS FAITHFUL!
Hugs!
Jackie
What precious memories!! Thanks for sharing them my friend!!
Hugs!
Susan
A beautiful memory shared... give me a couple of hours; I'll make something spiritual out of it!
peace~elaine
What beautiful word pictures you have created dear Sonja. I just love the picture of the antique furniture and the wooden floors, the stairs with balustrades---the wooden doors, the drystal chandeliers... now I am letting my imagination run free - and then the beautiful male voices floating down from the tower... It fills my feminine heart with so much delight... and I can imagine how beautiful those songs must have been.
"For all we know we may never meet again...before we go make this moment live again... that song by Nat King Cole my husband used to sing it to me when we were newly married...
Such beautiful memories you have shared here, dear Sonja. You have an awesome memory bank that can remember many details even if the event happened a long time ago. What a deposit to your spirit your parents have poured into you that your heart is large enough to take in and store all the beautiful things of your past!
Love
Lidj
A wonderful memory Sonja.
I wonder if that still happens in this day and age?
One of my all time favorite songs is Red Sails in the Sunset.
Thanks for the memories...hey! that would make a great title for a song! To bad Bob Hope isn't still around to record it :-)
Take care and have a great weekend
~Ron
*******
what a super fun memory and lovely place to go
to college. my daughter is just down the road
at pepperdine.
how did you ever end up in texas? i'm afraid
we've lost her forever. . . besides that she calls
all the time and still loves us. :)
Oh my goodness, Sonja!! I attended and graduated from Westmont College too!!! You're a WARRIOR! My dorm was on campus (Van Kampen) and it wasn't as quaint and wonderful as yours. But if I'm not mistaken, your picture is of the Administration building - which was a beautiful building. Westmont is recovering from terrible fires...it makes me sad to think of some of the older buildings they've lost. But God continues to bless.
What a precious memory...
GOD BLESS!
Wonderful memories...and I love the hearts....
so happy to have some blog reading time while we have been snowed in...which is rare in our state....
Happy Saturday
teresa
That must be one of the most beautiful women's dorms in the entire nation! The serenade story set me to thinking about some of the traditions of dorm life when I was in school..... They seem gentle and sweet compared with some of the things I hear re. today's university/college life...
Bonjour SOnja,
What a marvelous story - I can only imagine how excited you girls were to hear those boys sing. Whatever happened to those wonderful times?
Love your red hearts!
Have a happy weekend,
Mimi
What a great story, and what wonderful memories! Thanks for sharing it with us...it warmed my heart!
Hi Sonja,
Hi Sonja,
I pictured it all in my mind as you told the story, and I just wish I could have experienced something so special. What a fun, happy memory, and I'm so glad you shared it. I love the fact that you girls were in pajamas and big hair rollers.
God bless you,
Michlele
Precious Sonja, love comes in all forms and always leaves fond memories to last an eternity, for LOVE is eternity!!! THANK GOD!!!!
Thank you dearest for your kind words and visit yesterday....SHINE ON!!!!
Bises, Anita
Sonja dear
What a lovely place to go to college. Beautiful memories of a beautiful era.
Your memories of dorm life is so unlike today's...
Patrina <")>><
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