The House

It is that time again. In less than three weeks I get to spend a magical weekend with over thirty of my sisters. Yes, I am from a very large family, but even I don’t have that many siblings. I’m referring to my sorority sisters, women I met and grew to love almost forty years ago. I went to a small university eighty miles from my parents’ home. Far enough away to ensure Mom didn’t show up unannounced to make sure I was doing my homework, yet close enough to go home when I missed her fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

The Greek system was big on our campus in the mid-1970s. My college roommate, a friend from high school, and I pledged and moved into the Chi Omega house on Sorority Hill – a row of small campus housing dorms boasting brass Greek letters on the front doors. It was in this shared living space that we bonded and became sisters.

The living room with its red carpeting and comfy sofas was where we had our formal chapter meetings, but also where we watched All My Children between classes and visited with the cute frat boys who came to call. The adjacent dining room was where we put on our “freshman fifteen” eating the meals prepared by our house cooks, Mary and JoAnn. The front stairs were for initiated sisters only. The back stairs were for pledges. The bedrooms were all suites, every two rooms sharing a bathroom. The bedrooms were small, each with two twin beds, two built-in desks, two small closets, but big enough for a dozen girls to sit around smoking cigarettes and talk about boys.

The front door led down the hill toward campus. The back door led to Hooter Bay. Out the door, across an alley and up some cement steps was a grass and dirt (well, mostly dirt) parking lot dubbed Hooter Bay. I always thought the name was a reference to our sorority mascot, the owl, but in hindsight it may have been because our sorority sunbathed there in skimpy bikinis.

I loved living in that house. I loved being in a sorority. I loved my sorority sisters. I can’t wait to see them this month at our huge log cabin rental on Lake LBJ, the cabin we will turn into a Chi Omega house for the weekend. I can’t wait.