Those Precious Years-Those Precious Sisters

            Jane had been wondering so she asked, “What was it called when the members rousted us pledges out of bed at 5AM, let us get a jacket and shoes, added blindfolds, and loaded us up into cars and took us out to the middle of nowhere?”

            “I don’t even remember that.”

            “How could you not? We hitched a ride back into town in the back of a pick-up truck. The members had planned a swanky breakfast for everybody, but had to find our little industrious group. We weren’t where they left us.”

            “They’d call that hazing today.”

            “Oh, yeah, they would. Then, it was a tradition. Dangerous, though.”

            “Do you think Miss Freeman knew about it?”

            “Didn’t we have breakfast at her house?”

            “Well, for sure Dean Smith didn’t know anything.”

            “Lord, help us if she did.”

            “Look at this,” Donna said. She handed Trudy a square piece of paper with small print and initials.

Jane, Linda, Trudy, Donna, Sandy

            “Oh, my gosh! It’s a Call-Down!”

            “What for? Did y’all have a messy room?” another asked.

            “Who, us? Actually, it was for Noise!”

            “Noise?” Laughter erupted. “Are you kidding?”

            “No. Look. It’s got Trudy’s name on it.”

            “I can’t believe you saved that.”

“Oh, yeah,” Donna continued, “I have a piece of pine straw that was included in the letter Miss Amy Jean wrote to me before we got to campus.'

            “Do you remember when Marta cooked onions in my popcorn popper? Nothing ever tasted the same after that,” Linda said.
            “Oh, whose room is that? Are we making those weekly football spirit cards that were all creative and colorful? Didn't you make the pattern, Trudy?”

            Jane replied, “That’s Judi and my room. See my arm pillow?”

            “Oh, there’s sweet, little Judi. And our Shelby.  So, so sad.”

            We did not discuss classes we took, papers we wrote, jobs we had. While we became strong women whose confidence was raised by the experiences in Alpha Xi Delta, we took all that as a "given." Together we accomplished anything set before us. We learned. We grew. We grew up, together.

Sandy, Linda, Leesa, Donna, Nancy, Trudy, Jane, Jann

             We talked about driving Trudy’s light blue flower-power mustang to get a pizza. We talked about staying up late, talking, even when the girls whose room we were using had to go to bed. We recalled pranks and rush week. They call it “recruitment” now. We mentioned bid day and initiation, Mother-Daughter Weekend, and talked at length about our common bond: a Sisterhood.

Many of us could not remember the specifics of the days at Henderson, but we treasured the friendships we made during those four years. While some of us graduated early, the years in the dorm and with our sorority cemented our love for each other. The common bathroom area down the hall, the small rooms constructed with concrete block walls, and the years we had three girls in a room built for two were just some of the memories of our collective journey from age eighteen to twenty-one.

The reunion (about 40 alumni) called Summer Sizzle 2016 was a terrific experience and opportunity to reconnect with women who shared those precious years.