Stories of Sisterhood

[purpleandpearls]

These stories managed to make me both smile and cry!

My first story was from when I was a new member. It was the day of my sorority's fall formal and I had had a long standing appointment to get my tattoo touched up. One of my pledge sisters came with me and to this day I maintain the tattoo artist was either hungover or still drunk from the night before, but I didn't want to cause a scene. She wound up messing up my tattoo and I started crying the minute we left the tattoo parlor. I drove home, in tears the entire time. My pledge sister tried to cheer me up, but all I wanted to do was sit in my apartment and cry. I guess my pledge sister told some of the actives that she was close with and an hour before all the girls were supposed to leave for the formal, I received a call from one saying that I needed to get my things together and walk the two blocks to the house to get ready. I was in no mood to have fun, but this sister picked out a dress, helped me straighten my hair, and did my make up for me. I wound up having tons of fun with all of the sisters that night and a few days later, I found out that the active that had dragged me out of my apartment was my big!

My second story is from when I was a graduate student. During the summer, I fell and fractured my neck. My little came to the hospital as soon as she could and sat with me even though all the pain meds made me sleep. I was so happy she was there for me! A few weeks later, I was back in my own apartment at school, but I was miserable because I was still in a neck brace and it was hot and humid. My birthday was coming up and a friend of mine from a different sorority came over to help me "bling out" my spare neck brace by gluing gems and beads all over.

I have countless more stories to share, but those are two of my favorites.

I just started working as a student affairs professional and I can't wait to hear uplifting stories from the sorority women at my new school!

[honeychile]

Two stories, one as a collegiate, one from alumna:

1) I was dating a man from a fraternity, and we were pinned. One night, we sat down and talked about our relationship, and agreed that we really did not have a future, and it was time to be honest with each other. There were no hard feelings, just the sadness of two years of thinking that we would marry and the grim realization that it wasn't going to happen. This happened over the summer.

The next term, I was bringing a lot of things up to the ADPi Suite (where I lived) and as I was getting into the elevator, he and his new girlfriend got on with me. He immediately took one of the bags with which I was struggling, and insisted on coming up to our floor. While his new girlfriend waited at the elevator, he helped me get my things to my new room.

Later that night, the sadness finally overtook me. It wasn't from wanting him, as I knew that we would be friends when we saw each other, it was more from loneliness. As I was sobbing in my room, another sister (who was not really a close sister at the time) came in, put her arms around me and told me that he wasn't worth it, I had thousands of sisters who loved me, I had too much to offer, etc. This sounds so stupid, typing it out, but Ginny saved my sanity that night. I'm not sure if she ever completely understood that I wasn't crying from him, but I will forever thank her.

2) The night before my recent wedding, I realized that I had left my sorority pin in my hometown! I was so upset, but I emailed the sisters (neither of whom I had ever met, except from GreekChat!) if I could borrow one of their pins. Both lent me their pins! Both were also blue - one had aquamarine points, and the other had the turquoise instead of pearls! So, I had "something borrowed AND something blue" - both from dear, dear ADPi sisters! I didn't throw my bouquet at the reception, but polarpi and ASUADPi, I still have it with me. If you need to catch a bouquet, we can work that out for you!

Lastly, the older I get (me, old?!), the more I'm sure that Alpha Delta Pi is a constant in my life. I only wish that every sorority woman gets the lifetime experience that I have been fortunate enough to enjoy!

2)

[happilyanchored]

I'm a longtime lurker and I have to say I joined simply so I could post about how much this thread has reinforced the reasons I joined my sorority this past spring. Thank you for sharing all your stories and I hope I can contribute my own at some point in the future.

[SWTXBelle]

Always time for heart-warming stories!

It may seem like a small thing, but a Gamma Phi sister I met on-line here at GC picked me up and dropped me off at Newark airport when I was on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?".

[ASTalumna06]

Bump!

[ASTalumna06]

Bumping again for recruitment season!

[ASTalumna06]

I'm seeing a pattern here with me bumping this one

But it's one of my favorites.

[ASUADPi]

1) Back in like 2003, I went to Southern CA to meet Polarpi and another sister that I only knew via Greekchat. The other sister picked me up from the airport and I stayed with her. My parents, prior to me leaving, asked me "why would someone who doesn't know you pick you up and let them stay with you", I told my parents "because we are sisters".

2) A similar situation happened in 2004. My brother was in the AZ national guard and was at Fort Dix. He was scheduled to be deployed to Kuwait in December. As we knew we wouldn't get to spend Christmas with him, my parents and I went to him for Thanksgiving. As I couldn't afford a hotel, a sister (who I met on Greekchat), offered to pick me up from the airport and stay with her (and her family). She even was gracious enough to pick my brother up from Dix, as he was released on break early and my parents flew into Philly (I fly into Jersey).

Other little things have happened in my life where I've been not only grateful for my ADPi sisters but for my Panhellenic sisters as well.

[aj12291]

Having multiple sisters, your house mom, and your house mom's mom (both of whom are also sisters) all sending get well texts/Facebook messages the minute they find out you're back in the hospital... It's the little things that mean the most

[happilyanchored]

Ahh that's so sweet! Stories like yours with your mother and with Andrea are some of the many reasons why I am so proud and thankful to call myself a sister of Delta Gamma

[honeychile]

Definitely proof that it's not for four years, Sisterhood is for a lifetime!

[thetalady]

Carnation, what a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it.

[TLLK]

Thank you for sharing your story carnation.


If there are any PNM's who are unsure if Greek life is for you, I suggest that you read these stories.





My story also deals with the loss of a family member.


My brother was killed in a car accident in 1992. At the time he was a junior transfer student to Chapman University and was pledging Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. At the time I was living in Orange County and our parents were living in Napa, CA.



My DG pledge sister left her home to come and to sit with me at 1 am. Six hours later she had dropped her infant son at daycare, called in a substitute teacher and drove me between LA and Orange Counties on a series of errands that I had to do that day. That included visiting my parish church, seeing both devastated grandmothers, collecting my brother's belongings from his dorm room and meeting with Chapman University officials.



A few days later, it was my mother's DG pledge sister who came to take charge of his wake after the funeral Mass. Known as an exceptional hostess, she organized the neighbors and friends with food, beverages and flower arrangements. As the weeks passed she and other DGs continued to check in on my our family.



The bonds of sisterhood provided us with the support that we needed throughout an incredibly difficult year.

[tcsparky]

During Pref, there is a time for a few sisters to share their story about sisterhood with the women going through Recruitment. In my second year as a chapter advisor, we had a sophomore share her story. I had known a little bit about it, but I had never heard the entire thing before.

Her mom had been an Alpha Xi at another school, in another state. This sister, we'll call her Brittany, said that during her senior year of high school, her mom was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. She had known her mom was in a sorority, and sometimes did things with her sisters. As Brittany's mom got more ill, her Sisters started coming by the house. They took her to appointments. They went with her to get a wig. They helped Brittany fill out college applications and get ready to graduate. They took her dress shopping for prom. When her mom went into hospital, someone was always at the house to make sure the girls and their dad had dinner and clean clothes. And when her mom died, her mom's Sisters were there to help with the funeral, the visitation and the gathering at the house afterward. When Brittany left for college, they made sure she had what she needed for her dorm room.

They reached out to the chapter to make sure we knew there was a legacy going through. Brittany was a perfect fit for our chapter, and served on eboard many years. She told the Rushess that she had known that even if she didn't join Alpha Xi, she wanted to have that same experience. To have Sisters she could count on. She found it in Alpha Xi.

Everyone was crying by the time she was finished. We didn't have her tell the story every year, but the new members we got that year said that her story convinced them that they had to join a sorority after hearing that, and had been hoping for us!

[FSUZeta]

What a wonderful example of sisterhood.