Alumnae/i: Do you gossip about actives?

[Sistermadly]

I'm probably going to step on some toes, and honestly, that's not my intent, but I still have to ask:

Alumnae/alumni: do you gossip about the actives from your house?

I was at a party recently where a group of sorority alumnae - all of them 30 and older (except for one recent graduate) spent the lion's share of the evening gossiping about what's going on in the active chapter.

Now - I'm a former chapter adviser, so I know it's tempting to get wrapped up in the lives of the actives (although I was pretty firm about not crossing that line). But as I sat there with MisterMadly, all I could think was these are grown women who would much rather talk about the lives of nineteen year olds than the things they're doing in their own lives. I was shocked.

It wasn't sad, but it was incredibly frustrating. I felt lost and out of place because (1) I don't gossip, and (2) at almost 38 years old, I just don't have all that much interest in what 19 year olds are doing, and -- not to be ageist -- but been there, done that (20 years ago), and would rather not talk about it now.

How involved in the lives of actives are you? At what point do you think it's time to stop gossiping about college/university kids and to start talking about the things you're doing as an active, contributing alumnus?