"Best Years of Our Lives": 24 August 1986

As long as I live I will never forget 24 August 1986. It was the day my life changed forever.

It was the beginning of my Freshman year at Oberlin College. I had just moved into my dorm room at Burton Hall. I was at my floor's garbage closet when I had heard some guys talking.

"What is that?" I asked.

"The art rental?" One of the guys asked.

"Yeah, what is that?" I asked.

"It is where students camp out to rent art from Allen Memorial Art Museum." He said.

"Is that a big thing?" I asked.

"Oh yeah" he said and they walked off.

Me wanting to be a writer at either The Oberlin Review or The Grape so I grabbed my camera and note pad and headed off to Allen.

There were students everywhere. I started taking pictures. When my first roll of film was done I began looking for people to interview. There was a boy and girl at the end of the line that caught my eye.

"I can't believe you would rather have a Dali in your room then a Picasso." The girl said.

"I can't believe you can not handle that are taste is finally diverting." The boy said.

"I am sorry to bother you." I said tapping them on their shoulders.

"Yes" they said.

"I was wondering if you minded if I asked you a few questions for an article I am writing." I said.

"Sure" They said.

"Great" I said. "So how did you hear about this program?"

"Both of our parents went here so they told us." The boy said.

"Yeah they are always telling us about their time here and everything they did." The girl said.

"Cool" I said. "Do you have a space picked out in your room already for the art?"

"Of course" they both said.

"How will you be passing the time tonight?" I asked.

"We are going to use this time to meet some new people and chat." The boy said.

"We are very excited to be surrounded by people with similar interests." The girl said.

"Thanks so much." I said.

"Not a problem." The boy said. "Hey my name is Christopher."

"And my name is Olivia." Olivia said.

"My name is Danny." I said getting my stuff together.

"Where are you going?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah stay and hang out with us." Christopher said.

"I was hoping to interview some more people." I said.

"There are people all around us." Christopher said.

"It isn't like we are going any where till tomorrow morning." Olivia said.

"Okay" I said.

We began talking about art and the differences between Picasso and Dali and their merit. This converstation was over heard by a guy named Dave who brought up how important current artist were like Andy Warhol. This brought Cameron to the converstation about how important female artist were. This brought Emily in who said that art wasn't just found on canvases but all around us. As the night went on Jack, Elizabeth, Zachery, and Jennifer joined in. When morning came we all went in to pick our very different art. As we walked out I asked if I could get a picture of the nine of them with their art. I took the picture.

Christopher grabbed my camera and walked over to some guy and said, "Can you take our picture?"

I stood there watching this.

"You have to be in some of the pictures." Christopher said grabbing me.

"I suppose" I said joining them.

"Say cheese" the guy said.

"No say 'Best Years of Our Lives'" Christopher said.

"Best Years of Our Lives!" we all said.

"Yeah I took it on best." The guy said handing me the camera.

"Thanks" I said.

24 August 1986 I met my nine best friends and we began living the Best Years of Our Lives.