Forever Cardinal and Straw

As a resident of Auburn, Alabama my life is changing dramatically next week. Recruitment begins. My usually quiet pedicure establishment was overrun by girls in Nike running shorts and t-shirts adorned with Greek letters, this was the first sign of things to come. I was secretly sad as I was sitting there watching these girls and realizing my time had passed, but as soon as that thought hit me, I remembered the realities of rush and was not so sad. Someone might think why is Alley writing about this, however, I spent, if my count of pre-rush is correct, 37 days of my life in recruitment.

My freshman year I was a rushee, or a potential new member as they are called now. I was ignorant, naive, and blindly stupid. I ran through rush like it was one big party. Little did I know what happened on the other side. A year later, I was given the privilege to grace the other side. I have never been more tired, more disappointed in the human race or happier to be in one place for over a week with my best friends.

Some of my favorite memories of rush were bonding with Marye Beasley. I swear to this day she wished she had been a Chi O. ☺ Beas I hope you read this. Coming through the door at Chi O to see Avery’s sweet face and knowing that she was the reason I wanted to be a Chi O. On the other side, I loved skit day! I loved the summer before rush my senior year and getting ready with Laura and Katherine. I think we were pretty much obsessed. I loved getting the opportunity to speak on Pref Day and tell three of my best friends how much I loved them! The highlight of my days in rush was praying with our board during recruitment. I know it can be a most painful process on both sides of the field, but the Lord can use it all. We only hoped that the decisions we made were accurate in judgment and that the Lord’s will would prevail. So now that this is getting cheesy, I am going to wrap up.

I am not hiding it anymore. I am sad I won’t be participating in recruitment. I know Laura Parsons feels the same way, because she told me today. No more IWT’s, or lost voices, or late niters hanging a canoe from the ceiling. I will resign myself to g-chatting with Laura, Emily, and Katherine (my still obsessed friends- yes I called you out too) about how rush is going and the rumors we are hearing. I guess if I could do it again, I do it just the same, and I would make sure Mary Kneeland Metcalf was voted rush chair.