…there’s no other place where I can feel such unity…
Today’s Girl Between the Lines prompt is “Share one of your favorite photos and the story behind it.” I thought about using one from when Pearson proposed to me, or one from our wedding. I thought about using a significant one from our dating days. I thought about using one from my mission trip to Nicaragua. I almost used one of me and my brother from Halloween or one of our graduations. But I realized I have blogged about all those things before. Then I found this one.
As many of you know, I graduated from Harding University, private Christian school in Arkansas. As fewer of you know, I was a member of the social club, Chi Omega Pi at Harding.
Social clubs are the private, Christian school equivalent of sororities and fraternities. The only differences are that we weren’t nationally recognized, we had to use unique names that were in no way related to national fraternities, and we had to follow Harding’s rules (no drinking or partying etc.). Now don’t you go thinking these social clubs aren’t legit just because they aren’t nationally recognized. They are pretty tough to get into and they are taken pretty seriously. And some have been around for 70+ years.
Anyway, I digress. This picture was taken in my junior year on rough night, aka club night, aka Friday night of club week or whatever they’re calling it now. Students have to go through pledge week (after mixers and visitation) to get into a club, and rough night is the last night of pledge week. In this picture, Nicole and I (and Cassie, can you see her between us?) were already in the club so we got to dress in all black and paint our faces for intimidation factor. I can’t tell you what all goes on at ChiO’s rough night, but I can say that it is not all about being scary and mean. There is also a love aspect of it and I really wish I could show you all, but I would get sued. So…
Rough night was such a fantastic experience both when I pledged as a sophomore and when I was on the “other side” as a junior and senior. Pledge week was one of my favorite weeks of every year. I made so many great memories with my ChiO sisters. These are memories that nobody will take away from me. A lot of people complain about pledge week club week and the ‘hazing’ that goes on, but if it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have gotten as close to my sisters as I did. And that is what pledging a club is all about. These are life-long bonds we’re talking about and I am very grateful for that!
Were you in a sorority or social club in college? Or what’s the story behind your favorite photo? Go link up with Hayley and Lauren!
Thanks for reading!
