I want to go back to college

So every year at this time I have little choice but to reflect on how old I have gotten. I keep trying to fight it, but time and the ever growing presence of celulite on my thighs constantly remind me that I am no longer a spring chicken.

I spent the weekend at my alma mater, the small & quaint, conservative & sheltered, wonderful in so many other ways, Georgetown College. I went back, as I do each January, to find out what my Phi Mu sisters were doing to recruit us a fresh batch of members. I got sucked in volunteering after college and became their recruitment advisor. About 3 years ago I got even further sucked into the post-college-still-giving-back-because-I'm-a-big-sucker-for-my-sorority as a national oficer. I still have the strongest tie to my good old Delta Eta. At least I can use the "I'm an officer and they're one of my chapters" excuse. But, truth be told, I like going back each year. Truth is, I like catching an ever so slight glimpse of what being there feels like.

So I go. I drive the 30-minute one way trip to Georgetown and I offend half the chapter by making them wear lipstick or tell them to break the rules. They love me and they hate me. And I am ok with that. This year they rocked the house. They were fantastic and they blew me away. Me, a seasoned Phi Mu officer who has seen it all. Me, an eleven year Phi Mu veteran who has seen that chapter on its ups and downs. They blew me away. They were amazing. They deserve it.


So it was there that I was once again reminded of how much I miss college. How much I miss that college. My mom used to tease me about it being the "country club." I would always dispute that charge. But it is and it was. It was the greatest place in the world and for a very short time we had it all.

How I long for the days of having to walk to the room next door to find someone to go to lunch or dinner with. How I long for the days of recounting the past nights events with my friends and laughing while we filled in all of the missing details. Somewhere in a faint and distant memory are the warm spring days spent outside drinking contraband beer with my friends and the Phi Taus, showing up for class only to be told to go home, or the long good byes the end of each spring semester brought. How I miss getting so jacked up from the gallons of Mountain Dew or the horrible food we endured for four years. How I miss the days of showering with my shoes on and having a closet that stretched from one hall to another.

Mostly I look back and I miss the KA's freshman year, Flowers Hall, Farm Parties, Cardome, Beer in Backpacks (Natty Lite, of course), My Love for the T-shirt Guy, the Duck Pond, Jeremy Buhl, East Campus apartment living with Julia, Being Vee's Roommate, Snow Days, Chapel Day, Going to Richmond, Dixie Tavern & Amarillo by Morning, The Ruckers, SEDW's Mustang, Julia's Probe, Henry Hyundai, Vee's Altima and NB-C's Egg. I look back and wonder how we made it home from Panama City after being left by she who must not be named. I think about how great it was to get to know an entire campus and friends who years later you have something in common with, even if its just the shared experience of being there. I think about Alby and his satin shirt, 3.7 seconds, Nema flying over the wall, Toby the Dog, The Kimono & the drive to Wests, "Dude, can you hook me up," The Waterfall, Meeting SEDW, Julia, Vee & NB-C for the first time and eventually Saying Goodbye.

Never will I forget the experiences and people that made me grow, up and over the person I was before I came there. I loved college. My college. Our college.

My NFL (New Friend Lane) after spending a 24-hour period making fun of my annoyingly-fun-yet-somewhat-sad past time of being a professional sorority girl, decided I should form a new sorority. He says I should call it Mu Alpha Sigma or in plain terms, Middle Age Sorority. After much consideration, I don't think it's such a bad idea.

Who's with me?