[greekmom2]

^^^Thank you both. I was a little afraid I was writing to myself - LOL! I will keep entries coming though!

On Wednesday she got her schedule. Let me break to say that I have no earthly idea why Brooke was even allowed to go through recruitment since I don’t think her summer grades had come in, and her GPA was well below the requirement (as it turned out , even after she got the new grades she was slightly below). She had written a letter to the Greek life office explaining she did not know what her GPA would be for sure and why that was and she asked that it be put in her packet and sent to each sorority chapter. Given that, every sorority on campus could have cut her on day 1. By some miracle akin to the parting of the Red Sea she had six out of a possible ten (I think it was 10- might have been 11). She should have been on her knees in thanksgiving, but she was used to getting most things she wanted, and she only saw that the Donuts and Raspberry Parfaits had cut her, so she promptly broke down crying in the very patient arms of her Rho Gam. Yeah, she was an ungrateful cry-baby- she knows it - and if she could go back in time and slap herself, she would.

She was invited back to Chocolate Cake, Ice Cream, Candied Apples, Apple Pies, Blueberry Tarts and Lemon Bars. This day was house tours.

I do remember that the first house up was Apple Pie. She was still emotional and she cried off and on throughout her time there. One thing that was hard for her was that the friends she would normally turn to for advice or comfort were all in sororities, and she couldn’t talk to them. At the end of the tour she came around a corner and saw her high school buddy. Friend could tell all was not well – she pulled her into a side room and Brooke lost it. Finally pulled herself together and went on to the next house.

Don’t know what order the chapters went in from here on out, but at some point she went to Chocolate Cake which was now her favorite. She was talking to her rusher, and the girl asked if she knew anyone in the sorority. Brooke said yes, as a matter of fact she had a few friends there including one of her best friends. Girl asked who and daughter named cheer buddy. Girl looked at her oddly and said, “Look behind you”. There was cheer buddy who had been sitting there a while. . Brooke felt like an idiot but was happy to see another friendly face.

Things went fine at Ice Cream. No sign of ex’s best buddy or the other woman, and she enjoyed her time at the chapter. This chapter and Apple Pie were probably even in this round.

She had no clue why she had been invited back to Candied Apples unless they wanted her to join so they could make her jump off a balcony. The girls who took her on the tour were quite friendly. She really liked them which baffled her.

Blueberry Tarts- She had already crossed this chapter off the list before she got in the door. Again, no reason other than reputation. She admits they were nice, albeit shy and quiet. She also felt like they were trying very hard to turn things around and increase their numbers which she did appreciate (they have, from what she hears, done a good job of turning things around and increasing their numbers over the last couple of years, by the way).

Lemon Bars – This was a different story than Blueberry Tarts today. Brooke’s initial reasons for not considering this group were unfair, but today they gave her legit reasons- not for disliking them – just for feeling like she didn’t have anything in common with them and it wasn’t just about it being a struggling chapter at the time.

For one thing, every girl she had met here was in the band, and the girls she spoke to confirmed that a lot of the girls in the sorority were also in the band. This chapter was small, and she knew they were kind of known on campus as “the band girl sorority”. This would be fine except that Brooke had been on drill team her freshman year of HS (dance team requirement), and she hated every living minute of it. It had been a horrible experience for her (her dad and I on the other hand – kind of liked the whole thing). She couldn’t see herself in a chapter of girls who loved something she detested.

Next, they had Star Wars memorabilia all over the walls. Now, she actually loves the movies and can discuss their philosophical implications at length, but putting the collectibles on the walls was crossing into Dungeons and Dragons territory for her. That was totally not her thing.

To seal the deal, she and the PNM she was paired with started talking about “The Hills” and asked their rusher if she had seen the last episode. Rusher had never heard of it…or any other show, music, or movie they liked. They could not find one common topic of interest. They finally gave up and just talked to each other which wasn’t particularly polite, but they were at a loss.

I asked her much later if this group wanted to increase their numbers and grow, why their advisor or someone didn’t tell them it might be a good idea to tone down the emphasis on their very specific interests, so they could appeal to a wider group of girls. She told me that she didn’t think that simply adding girls was really important to them, or at least it wasn’t a top priority. She told me (this was a couple of years later mind you) that while she didn’t share all of their interests and did find them a little different – she respected the fact that they knew what they liked, who they were, and they weren’t going to tone it down or pretend to be something they weren’t for anyone.