[misscherrypie]

That's what happened.

So, we issued bids....and invited them to Bid Day Celebrations.
In the meantime.....I went to work on putting together bags for my three littles: Hannah, Grace and Laura.
The theme: Spoil them rotten!
Among the bags were the four charm bracelets that I posted photos of in the Bid Day thread.

The day came....and I was nervous. Hannah, in her boundless wisdom said "We will have exactly enough to charter." Grace, said to me
"Hannah is always right. When she says something will happen, it does." I had a terrible feeling that we wouldn't have enough....and everything would be for naught.
Laura for her part, was extremely excited.

9:30am....the only girls standing in Honor Court were the four of us.

So....using a bid day ritual that I composed for use by our chapter, the three who had thrown their hat into the ring, and refused to let me stand as the only Beta Sigma Phi on campus..... pledged to continue toward their initiation, and became my sisters.
For some reason....this fit. It was sort of reenacting our own story.....of course, I can't disclose what happened during bid day ritual.....but can say that I came close to crying in joy, and only my sisters' words kept those tears from running over.
Oh happy, delirious day!

The next day.....surprise awaiting.....

My birthday was the day after bid day. I had a huge party planned with two separate venues (dessert at one, dancing until late at the other) and expected many guests. After some thought, I decided to reach out to Sophie. I'd been friends
with her in the past, but we had a huge falling out shortly before I began classes at the University. She was a newlywed, and she, her husband and I had been friends for several years before the falling out. I wanted to extend the olive branch and reconnect,
so I sent the following email:

Hi,
Just wanted to invite you guys to my birthday bash on Thursday. 8:30pm at XYZ, 10:30pm at ABC. Your presence would be both welcome and appreciated.

Sorry for the short notice,

Mimi


So, the parties began. There was an excellent turnout....and at the second venue, I recieved a text: It was from Sophie. She and her husband were enroute!
Needless to say, after the party and a long heart-to-heart....we put the past behind us and became friends again. That was one of the best birthday presents I've ever recieved.

Over breakfast, she asked me about what I was up to these days, and I mentioned Beta Sig to her when listing what occupied my spare time. She interrupted my stream of chatter with:

"Beta Sigma Phi? What is that?" she asked
"A community sorority", I replied.
Her eyes lit up.

"Mimi, can I join too? "

We had our #5. (After the sisters got to vet her a bit....okay, a lot!)

In retrospect....she is very similar to the rest of us. Similar sense of humor, warmth, and values. She's a good fit for us. Also along the "friends first....sisters later" trend that seems to be developing.



#6? Number 6? Who's Number 6??

Of the 33 bids we issued....three women got back to us after bid day. Two of them are interested in rushing with us next semester. The last of the three, yearned to pledge now and we all liked her a lot....but her schedule was so ridiculously packed that she could barely spare a moment.

We made a deal with her that she could be part of our charter class, but that we would not expect anything more than to attend chapter meetings, until the end of the semester when her schedule lessened considerably. This suited her fine.

One more....just one more?

We only had six.....we really, really needed seven to go forward. The next week was a picture in chaos. We contacted the 30 women who we extended bids to via email, expressing our interest in them and a hope that they would consider joining with us.

Cue: Crickets.

As a group, we determined that if we didn't hear from the thirty by Friday at noon, their bids would be null and void, and that we were going to hold off on FVing....

To be continued......