This excited me. All Crookstons are related and it is not often that I meet another one. The problem was that I had not actually met him, I was simply aware of his existence somewhere in that class full of one hundred tired college students. So I made a goal: meet Josh Crookston. I was not sure how to execute this plan, however, as my only idea was to stand up in the middle of class, ask the professor to excuse the interruption, turn around, and loudly pronounce that I would like to talk to Josh Crookston after class. There were many faults with this plan, the most major being the chance that he would not be in class that day, and that is just one of those things you can't do twice. So I formulated a plan B: wear my Crookston hoodie to class. Genius, right? I always sit in the second row, and there are only about six seats on the first row. The chances that Josh was sitting in one of those six seats were very slim. So I would show up to class in my Crookston hoodie, take a minute to sit down, Josh would see it and be curious, and then he would seek me out after class. However, like the first plan, there were some minor faults here. Although it would have been possible to wear the hoodie every day, it would not have been the most sanitary option. Not to mention he might be aware of the U of M in Crookston Minnesota and not think anything of it.
As time went on, class readings became longer, assignments became harder, and Josh Crookston began to slip from my mind. Until today.
It was a good Thursday, my alarm went off when it was suppose to, my hair didn't rebel as much as it could have, the shirt I wanted to wear fit right, and I was even 5 minutes early to class. All was well until I walked into the classroom and there, in the second row, were two girls sitting in mine and Jennie's seats. Normally this would have meant war, but it was not even 8 in the morning yet and I was simply too lazy/tired to really care that much. So I sat in the third row instead. The boy next to me looked nice. Tired, but nice. He had a notebook out and was sketching, he was quite good at it. I sat down and we had the name exchange, "hi, I'm Josh" "hi, I'm Sadie." Then there was that slightly awkward pause of deciding if we really cared to ask more classic small talk questions or if we should just let the conversation die. We chose the latter. It wasn't until half-way through the lecture when Professor Flom said something to spark my memory. I felt like a cartoon character who had a lightbulb appear over their head. I turned to this Josh sitting next to me and asked, "Josh, what is your last name?" He looked slightly taken aback, understandably. Is it really so critical for me to know his last name that it can't wait til the lecture is over? But then he said it, the answer I was waiting for. "Crookston."
Part of me wanted to creep him out by saying something along the lines of "Ah, I've been looking for you" with a british accent, but instead I stuck to something simple like "really? that's my last name too!" Then there was that awkward moment of 'cool, we're family...now what?' So we both nodded a few times and turned our attention back to the professor. When class ended we exchanged a few more words, made a few long lost cousin jokes, and headed our separate ways. In the long run the only thing I really got out of meeting Josh Crookston was a new facebook friend, and who doesn't need some of those? But I am now happy and content, so that's really all that matters, right?
In case you want a Crookston shirt, click here sometime in the next five days.
<3
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