Sorority Family

People make fun of me all the time for not "letting go" of Phi Mu. They always tell me that I'm not in college any more and I'm too old to be a sorority girl now. If you weren't in a sorority, then you just don't get it. Even if you were, but you weren't really involved...sorry, but you don't get it either. Aside from the people I am actually blood (and marriage)-related to, my Phi Mu sisters are the most important people in my life. Yes, it sounds cliche and ridiculous, but some of us (myself included) are forever changed thanks to our time in Phi Mu. Then again, I have always believed that you get out of something what you put into it. In college, I put a lot of my blood, sweat and tears into Phi Mu and I still do to this day. However, I feel like I got so much more than I deserve out of it.  My sisters were a family to me away from home while I was in college, and now that we are all spread apart, being back with them makes me feel at home again.

In times of celebration and of great despair, who you turn to for support really proves just how important some people are in your life. When I got engaged four years ago, the first people I called were my childhood best friend (who might as well be my biological sister) and 4 of my Phi Mu sisters. This past July when my dad passed away, I called the exact same group of girls immediately after finding out. In good times and in bad, my Phi Mu sisters have always been there for me to lean on.

I feel like "letting go" of Phi Mu would be like cutting off one of my limbs. Without Phi Mu, I am incomplete. If I just stopped being involved in Phi Mu, I would have a big hole in my heart. You don't just stop doing something that you love, so I will never stop being a Phi Mu. Yes, I will be that little old lady driving around with Phi Mu letters on my Cadillac, wearing carnation pink suits every year on Founder's Day.

Within every sorority, there are families. Big and little sisters grouped together to make family lines. My Phi Mu family line added a new little to the line last week which officially makes me a great great great great great grand-big sister. I'm sure you're probably thinking, "who cares", because none of the girls in my family who are still in the collegiate chapter were even there when I was actually in college. But it doesn't matter because I still know them all. My Phi Mu family is very close and every year when we add a new little to the family, I want to know her. Just like real grandparents get excited every time they get a new grand-baby, I get all excited every year when a new little is added to my family. When we are gone, all that lives on is our legacy. I want my legacy to be left behind at Phi Mu and I want it to be a good one :) While there are many more family lines in Phi Mu that go much farther back than mine does, I'm sure none of those family lines can say that they personally know every single person in their line; that it the most important thing to me about my Phi Mu family. So while I might not physically still live at 823 West Jefferson Street, my heart still does.

Ok, enough of the sappy talk. Here are some pictures of my beautiful Phi Mu family through the years :)

At first there were just us two :) 

Then there were 3...

And then 4...

soon there were 5...

and then 6...

then 7 (minus Elisa because she wasn't there for the picture)...

And now we have 8! I can't wait for our next family photo. I going to have to climb up on a ladder to get to the top of the family line for that picture. LIOB