Greetings! I have no idea why I am saying Greetings but that was running through my mind. Actually it was Greetings Earthlings. I’ve always said I’m not from here LOL…
Over the weekend I had a mixture of a lovely time and a huge change in perspective, along with some sadness. First let me tell you about my lovely time.
I went down to Auburn to my sorority chapter’s Golden Anniversary. So just to be clear, it was the Alpha Chi Omega, Epsilon Zeta chapter’s 50th anniversary on campus at Auburn University. I was in college for the 25th but didn’t attend because I didn’t want to go with my date (LOL). Yes, I am old I guess.
I stayed with old friends and sisters and it was so great reconnecting. Honestly it felt like we just picked up where we left off. We saw some upper classmates and reconnected with them and it was a great time. On Friday evening we attended the cocktail reception at the Marriott Grand National hotel in Opelika, and then returned on Saturday for the luncheon. It was very cool seeing the remaining founding chapter members, and some familiar names and faces who are national leaders still, as they were when I was in college. I got my 25 year pin and watched the charter members get their 50 year pins. That might have been the neatest part. You could tell how excited these women were and how much it meant to them. So I was happy to clap for each one of them as they received their pins and honors.
On Saturday evening we went to a sports bar and then over to the “real” bars. I have to tell you, it wasn’t like that when I was down there. Going in there I feel like I’m in some movie scene with hundreds of partying, dancing college students. We had a few bars back then but they weren’t that fun, and we mostly just had parties or hung out at fraternity parties. At some point though, I realized that these kids really could be my kids, and some nice “young man” called me ma’am in the bar and then another one at McDonald’s at 2am. I kept telling them to please not call me ma’am and they both said they just had to. UGH. I am too old to be partying with them I guess (other than that fact I’m getting too old for this shit anyway LOL!). Oh, and icing on the cake was the woman who was close enough to our age walking up saying “Oh! It’s great to see people with wrinkles!” Damn, do we have that many?!
It was somewhat sad sitting in the luncheon, though. I heard the speakers talking about the multiple generations of AXO families in the room. One had 4 generations. Of course I have no one to pass my legacy on to even if I wanted to. And funny, I never cared before. But it’s sad to know why that isn’t an option. I really just had to stuff it down so that I didn’t get upset and cry. Unfortunately that means I had to turn off my emotions nearly completely and that is a process that has to be reversed. It’s like rebooting your computer after it locks up. Takes awhile to come back online.
It is nice to know, though, that AXO supports domestic violence victims and empowering women. Even though I am not active in the alumni chapter here I can get on board with those causes. Women need to be empowered these days more than ever. We sort of got over the hump and in the last 10-15 years we have just let it go as our rights are being chiseled away slowly and no progress is being made. As I was explaining to someone earlier, it’s a symptom of the disease. The disease is that we cannot trust our fellow humans to treat everyone fairly or with equal rights, and unfortunately, that means we legislate to force people to do that. It’s really not the best fix but it’s some protection at least. I could go on about the desecration of women’s rights over the last 2-3000 years but I’m sure I would begin to bore you. Just remember that in the 1970’s your mother could not get her own credit card without a man’s signature, and that when you are “given away” ownership is passed from your father to your husband. It may be symbolic now, but the energy is powerful. Empower yourself ladies. I am cheering you on.
And with that my flow is gone. I’m really tired, and I really am too old for this but it sure is fun every so often! Thank you ladies for making my weekend full of love and fun and just a great time! <3 <3
#missingerin #LovingErin Blessings and Namaste!
1 comments
It was a wonderful time Nicole! I’m so blessed to have had that time with you this weekend. I think you are very young at heart, but a very old and wise soul deep inside. There were so very many times I thought about Erin this weekend and many times wondered what was going through your mind, like at the reception. I vowed to myself though, that I would not intentionally try to avoid topics about our children for fear of inviting sadness. I had intention time with myself before that trip to consider how life must be for you and Shaun in all sorts of social situations. I decided that trying to avoid topics would only place an artificial veil over our friendship, and feelings are meant to be experienced and felt. So this weekend, I too felt a range of emotions, and I have you in my life to have been blessed with some of those feelings. Thank you for sharing yourselves with us this past weekend. I really appreciate your perspectives and love. I hope we have many more of them to come. Most of all, this weekend, i just wanted you to know that I love you both and that Erin is very much alive in our hearts and thoughts and I didn’t want her memory to be left out of our experience. Namaste!