Best Money I Ever Spent

Yes, I bought some friends. About 140ish of them. And it was the best purchase I ever made.

Yesterday was Sorority Bid Day at Centre. Looking at the pictures posted on Facebook, we did pretty good. Seeing the familiar class photos, the ridiculous costumes, the diamonds (<>Alpha Delta Pi!<>) made me really excited. Not only is the chapter that I loved (still love!) for four years thriving, but it brought back all my happy sorority girl memories.

Going to college, sororities weren't a huge priority. Centre doesn't rush until February so you have a whole semester to get a good feeling for your Greek options. My attitude was that if there was a sorority I wanted to join, I would join, but I wasn't going to do it just to say I was in a sorority. It took about two weeks (Was it even that long?) before I knew I wanted to be an ADPi. They were classy. I saw them out partying with each other and they had a good time without being trashy. They were well respected. They were smart and campus leaders. I had never met an ADPi I didn't like, and everytime I met one I just wanted to meet more.

I remember signing my bid card. Since coming to Centre in September, I had made five really great friends. One, didn't rush that semester. Another, was sitting in the ADPi house wondering how I would sign my bid card. She was also the one who started my ADPi enthusiasm. The other three were there with me, signing bid cards. I knew that they were all going to a different chapter, but I knew that the ADPi house was home and they knew that too. I also considered that I already had five amazing friends and no matter what I put down on that slip of paper, they would still be there for me and they would still be as amazing and wonderful, but I had made up my mind. I wanted to wear those Greek letters -- Alpha Delta Pi -- because they meant something to me. They were a group of women I respected and I wanted to be a part of that.

Yes, it's a little weird when a group of 60 women, 50 you've never even met before, suddenly start waving at you all the time, hugging you, inviting you to hang out, offering to sell you their textbooks at great rates, and would essentially do anything for you just because you've pledged a common sorority, but it's also amazing. Yes, essentially all sororities are the same, it just depends on who comprises the current active membership. So yes, there is a level of superficiality to it all. But there is also something very real. You share a common experience and a common ritual, that cannot be broken. It creates a special bond. Not to say that this bond demeans other friendships that are not based on letters of the Greek alphabet, but being in a sorority is a special kind of friendship that I treasure. We lose touch along the way and to be honest there are some I never liked that much anyone. But in thinking of my sisters, I cannot help but think of one line from a Christina Rosetti poem, "There is no friend like a sister..."

The women of Eta Omega changed my life for the better 110%. I would not trade my memories of them, and the memories we still make, for anything in the world. No matter how happy I am today or how blessed I am in this current part of my life, a little part of me will always be sitting in my sweatpants in the basement of the ADPi house, with ice cream and cookie dough, surrounded by some of the most beautiful women I have ever known.

Happy Bid Day, Eta Omega!
<> OBIC <>