Mr. Moose

We're heading to Chi-town to get together with Moose, Kay, Vic and Freddie Carl this weekend. After I met Vicki, my very first week of college (and her HS honey Fred), Moose was the next one of the bunch I met. Before Pablo the Pool Boy.

Our sophomore year, Sal, Jane and I wanted to play flag football so we asked our new Residence Assistant (is that what the A stood for?) if she knew any coaches. It just so happened she knew some guys from Birch - Stephenson House. They turned out to be Steve Wilt (Moose) and Steve Hauser (Shit Head) Okay that name didn't really stick, and neither did others. We called him Hosehead and Hausari too.

All the guys who lived in Stephenson House got assigned a name when they moved in - by the older guys. As we got to know Moose and Steve and attended some parties over there we met Pig Farmer, Larry (was that his real name?) Dirger or Den Rat, Dairy Cow (real last name was Ayrshire) and Yellow Fever.

I remember the day we met them down on the Willow practice field. Sally had an immediate crush on Hauser. Of course he was smitten by her too. It was a short lived thing - Sal never really liked nice guys. Hauser took it well. Sometime in there Moose and I had a brief "like" thing where we danced together at the end of house parties when the slow music came on (and Moose had imbibed enough beer) and a few makeout sessions. Luckily neither of us was slutty and it didn't go farther than that.

By our later in our junior year, M&S were mostly our best guy friends. Our romantic guy friends didn't feel threatened by them. That spring I started to see Paul, and our friend Bob Fitzpatrick liked a gal from Audubon named Kay who Paul also knew. We went on a double date. In the meantime Bob also decided he liked the looks of another friend of ours - Jane Ertl. I know - hard to keep it all straight.

After Moose and Hauser's super senior fall semester (5th year) and graduation, Hauser moved away after graduation but Moose got a job in Ankeny and he and Fred (who had moved to Ames by then) got to be great buddies. Vic and Fred got married. I know, it's all kinda incestuous. Moose was like Vic and Fred's lovechild. haha

In the meantime college roomie Jane Flack began living with none other than Kay from Audubon and her cat lovin' friend Mary. By now Pablo and I were betrothed, and I was traveling for a living - when I got to DM I stayed with Jane. Moose began appearing with her. What? Moose with Kay? How did that happen? It turned out to be a good match and by 1985 those lovebirds were married too.

Hauser (I know you're all wondering what ever happened to him...) first went to Florida? Or was it Arizona? He flew in from somewhere far away for our wedding. He moved to the Twin Cities and met someone he knew in college - Ann and they eventually married. So far we've all lived happily ever after (for the most part).

It will be good to see our good friends once again this weekend, and to go to the big Windy City.