Big/Little Relationships as an Alumnae

[kitekat]

Just curious to see how many of us still keep in touch with our Bigs and Littles (or whatever your organization's equivalent is!)

Have you kept in touch with your Big and/or Little?
How often do you talk to each other?
How often do you meet up to see each other?
How has your relationship changed over the years?
Any other notes or fun stories?

[KSUViolet06]

1. Yes. My little is out of state but we are in touch via phone and text and she even came up for a visit this summer. My Big and I are in touch via social media and see each other at events due to her busy schedule and new little boy.


2. Daily for Little. Weekly for Big.

3. I try to do something with them at least once a year even if just seeing them at Homecoming.

4. Distance and not living in same city has been challenging.

5. I was in my Big's wedding and hope to be able to return the favor someday.

[Sciencewoman]

Have you kept in touch with your Big and/or Little? Yes, I'm friends with both on Facebook. They're both in other states, so we're not close geographically. My little is a frequent FB poster and has a very active life, so it's fun to follow all her activities. Right now she's evacuated from Florida due to Hurricane Irma.

How often do you talk to each other? I exchange messages with my little, but not my big.

How often do you meet up to see each other? I last saw my big at a wedding for another sister. I haven't seen my little in years, because I wasn't able to attend a mini-reunion she organized a few years ago.

Any other notes or fun stories? My little and my daughter's little are both named Jenny.

[misscherrypie]

My land Beta chapter (founded when I was a student at UNR) did have bigs and littles.
I never was able to take a Sigma little. I have a Sigma twin though (my pledge sister who founded our family "Tokyo" together with me) who is my best friend!

Have you kept in touch with your Big and/or Little? Yes! Two of my four Beta littles virtually attended my daughter's Zoom Bat Mitzvah last month ( and so did a LOT of Sigmas!) and one was honored with a reading and they were both honored during the candlelighting.

My Sigma twin and I talk multiple times a day as I rent a room in her family home...she's in the next room. :-) (which answers the next question partially.)

How often do you talk to each other? My Beta littles: A few times a week.

How often do you meet up to see each other?

Since two of my Beta littles live in Reno, and I return to Reno very rarely, I see them every time I travel back to there. One lives on the other side of the Las Vegas Valley and we usually meet in the middle and see each other infrequently...perhaps a few times a year. One lives less than five miles away, and before COVID we saw one another at least once a week.

My Sigma Twin and I see each other multiple times a day!

Any other notes or fun stories? So, I became a Beta when my daughter was five and taught my daughter to call my Beta sisters "Aunt" HerName. Same goes for my Sigma Twin. She is very close to them, calls them on the phone often and sometimes goes to lunch with them.

They still call me "Bigs" or "Big", and I still call them "Little!". Sometimes, when we're out and get separated from each other in a crowd, I will call out for my Sigma Twin with "TWIN!" and she'll call right back with "TWIN!"

[honeychile]

Have you kept in touch with your Big and/or Little?
My Big has fallen off the face of the earth, but I'm still in touch with my Little.

How often do you talk to each other?
We don't talk as often as message or text.

How often do you meet up to see each other?
Distance has taken its toll, but we're near each other, we try to make it happen. If our chapter's Centennial ever does happen, we plan to share a room.

Any other notes or fun stories?
SO many, but the best is when her daughter went through Recruitment and went Pi Beta Phi. (Thanks for the rec, carnation!) She and her Big & LIttles remain in awe that K & I are still so close after all these years! Not four years, but a lifetime, y'all!

[Benzgirl]

Big: I actively communicate with her on Facebook and see her every couple of year.
Litte: We still talk on occassion to her
We are in our late 50s so saying how often is, "whenever we can fit it in"

Notes or fun stories: Big - we still bitch to each other about the same people via messaging or text. We have similar opinions on everything and seem to have similar opinions about the same people

[ForrestGrump]

Back when I was in college, when dinosaurs roamed the earth (aka the mid-80's), we had pledge moms/pledge daughters instead of Bigs and Littles. I lost touch with my Pledge Mom shortly after she graduated. She moved back to her home state, married, divorced and remarried. Don't even know what her last name is now, and she hasn't kept her information up-to-date with DG. I am still friends with one of my two pledge daughters, along with her pledge daughter (my "granddaughter"). We message and post with each other on FB. I kept in touch with my other pledge daughter for a few years after I graduated, and then we lost touch. We tried to revive communications a decade ago, but between work, family and life, it's been at least two or three years since we've had any contact.

[carnation]

My big transferred to Georgia Tech during my pledge year so she could cheer. We still communicate occasionally on Facebook!

My little fell off the face of the earth--no one knows where she is.

You're welcome for the Pi Phi rec, honeychile!

[Kevin]

I never had a big as I was a founding member of my chapter.

I had a little, but the guy wasn't Sigma Nu material who only rushed because his girlfriend was an AXiD who I guess thought it would be cute to have her boyfriend in their 'brother' [note: this isn't an official recognized status by either organization] organization. I definitely have not kept in touch.

[TLLK]

1.I see my big in person occasionally but she helped my daughter with her college applications. Otherwise we text or use social media to communicate.

2. I have three little sisters that I have not seen in many years, but we do keep in contact via social media.

[UVASquirrel]

I don't have a big since I was a charter member of my chapter. My little and I are from the same home town, different high schools. We lost touch when I moved out of state, but reconnected via Facebook 10 years or so ago. I wish we talked more.

[Titchou]

Haven't seen nor heard from/of my big since we left school. Little and I still live in the same town, see each other regularly, have served DG locally, regionally and nationally and went on many DG trips together.

[Kdbruin]

I haven’t been in touch with my big in years! I am not even sure why she wanted me as her little in the first place! She was not real excited about being a big and waited until her fourth year to take on a little. I was the pledge who would not get gifts from her big like the other pledges during big/little week....and she was the president lol! That being said, I took on a little during winter quarter after initiation and made sure she knew she was wanted! I keep in touch with her through social media as we live over 300 miles away from each other. I have a grand little and I have not seen her since college.

[flirt5721]

Have you kept in touch with your Big and/or Little? I kept in touch with my big for a little bit after graduating. However, now no contact. I have tried to teach out but no response.

My little I have a little more contact with her through Facebook. But not very much.

How often do you talk to each other? Rearly
How often do you meet up to see each other? Never
How has your relationship changed over the years? We grew apart.
Any other notes or fun stories?

[PhilTau]

Big: Assigned. Main job was to keep me from getting blackballed and to rescue me when being hazed. He got married right after I pledged. So my contact with him after pledging was very limited. I didn't really get to know him in college. Reconnected decades later. We live on opposite coasts and are very in sync politically. We communicate somewhat regularly.

Little: Assigned. My main job was to keep him from getting blackballed. Shortly after pledging, some actives got on him about wearing high water pants. He depledged before I had a chance to intervene. I have since forgotten his name.

Little sister 1: Chosen. Stayed in contact with her and other members of her family for decades. We talk regularly.

Little sister 2: Chosen. Lost contact a year after graduation.