running into brothers

[Trey_P-I_47]

I always find it neat when I run into a fellow a Brother, and it is really interesting when it happens back home because there arent many major universities close by with the exception of ECU, and its pretty rare to run into another LXA.

Anyway, my father recently opened a new seafood restaurant, and since it has been open I was looking for a small, fairly un-noticeable way of displaying the fact that I am a member of The Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Well today i placed a small 3 inch sticker of our letters on the window of our countertop and by the middle of lunch it was pointed out to me that there was a gentleman who was interested in speaking with me. As it turns out he is a Brother from Beta Zeta (University of Maine) and was initiated in 1961. I absolutely love it when the realization hits me of just our expansive and magnificent our fraternity is, without a doubt Lambda Chi Alpha is the greatest thing to happen to me.

It immediatley puts a smile on my face and makes my day 1000% better whenever a situation like this occurs as such a well-timed, random event.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

In ZAX

[GammaZeta]

I love running into brothers.

I usually have to apologize after and get the dent taken out of my hood.

It's all in good fun though.

[Cube TX]

I feel the same way. El Paso is pretty isolated and the only city with a major college close to it is Las Cruces. During my time as an active brother at UTEP the chapter at NMSU was shut down so it was rare to meet brothers at all.

One time we'd just had a football or softball game or something and were all at Applebee's afterward and were approached by a man who lived in El Paso who had been a Lambda Chi in Dallas. Another time a brother from the Univ. of Arizona had moved to El Paso and ran into us and later showed us pictures of a party that 6 of us had traveled to a few years before. As luck would have it, some of us were in the picture (thanks for raising your arms while the band was playing and blocking out my face, Scott).

Years after my active days, when I was already married and with children, I was hosting a movie premiere for a local radio station that was attended by a few active brothers. They were wearing party shirts and I spoke to them for awhile. Now I was the old guy who the actives didn't know was a Lambda Chi.

I think my favorite story is when I was still the High Beta at UTEP and on the cheer squad. We were cheering a basketball game when my big brother and teammate, Scott, told me that he'd run into a Lambda Chi brother in the press room who said he knew me and had just graduated from SMU. Turns out the guy was named Chris Johnson and had gone to junior high and high school with me. I hadn't seen him since my high school graduation and had no idea that he was now a brother.

[Fudd7405]

I am a Lambda Alpha and when I go to Bourbon, I see and meet LXA's from all over the country... every damn weekend. It is awesome.

[sanjiyan69]

let me see if I can recall running into brothers at random places..

1. at Woodfield mall in Chicago...a brother from Memphis.

2. Shedd aquarium.

3. Best buy (brother from Central Michigan was working there)

I'm in Grand Rapids, MI and we're about an hour away from chapters at Ferris State, Michigan State and Western Michigan...it's not the closest thing from isolation, but I actually don't see that many brothers from other chapters that often...

[Albert109]

This summer in Phoenix, I got one of those purple lanyards on which I have all my keys. I had left it dangling out of my white coat while working at the drop-off window at Walgreen's Pharmacy. Some guy came to the window to drop of a few scripts and noticed the lanyard and we got to talking - he's from Truman State (Kirksville, MO). What a weird way to meet brothers...

[Cube TX]

Years ago when I was an active I was dating a girl who lived on the far west side of El Paso. I'd drive over to her house all the time in the truck I had back then (my first truck, a silver Ford Ranger that I loved and had for 7 years until that stupid drunk driver ruined my life for a few months). My truck had my Lambda Chi Alpha sticker and coat of arms on it.

When I'd get out of the truck I'd always say hello to her next door neighbors. They were a 30-something married couple with 2 young children. One day the husband saw my truck and when I got out of my truck that day he called me over and showed me his composite from about a decade earlier. We'd been talking for over a year and had no idea that we were brothers from the same chapter.

A few years later the girl I was dating moved about 10 miles closer to where I was living. About a year after that she moved to Florida. About a year after that we had an actives vs. alumni softball game and I ran into her old neighbors again. His kids had grown up so much. Funny how now that's where I am -- the 30-something alumni with 2 kids living on the same side of town they lived on back then.

That girl I was dating got married in Florida and I never saw nor spoke to her again for 4 years when suddenly she moved back. We spoke for awhile, but it was really not a good idea. I have no idea where she is now, but at least I got to meet a brother out of it all.

[Fudd7405]

I am a Lambda Chi at the University of New Orleans and I ALWAYS run into brothers from all over the country in the French Quarter. It is awesome. ; ()