Pledged

I just finished Pledged: the Secret Life of Sororities by Alexandria Robbins.

In this book the author goes undercover and lives as a sororitiy sister for a year to really see what sorority life is like.

One of the two main questions she wants to answer is: Are the stereotypes of sororites true? The second question is: Why the desire to belong to a sorority is so strong among young women.?

So strong infact that they will endure abuse to get it.

I felt she bashed sororites a bit...didnt look had enough for the good parts of sororites. She found most of the stereotypes to be true in the particular campuses she visited and/or lived on. However, I have trouble believing that its all true of all sororites.

Also, I could have told her right off why girls will endure alot to be part of a group. Heck, I see it often at school and in my adult life as well. People were MADE for community. Its how God made us...it's gotten a bit twisted and tainted because of sin, but the desire to know and be known remains deeply embedded within us. Everyone wants someone to know them and also to know people themselves.

I remember I felt this acutely when I went to stay with my friend LeighAnne while her husband was in the ICU. When I went there no one knew me from Adam...it was a weird feeling to be with a group of people who were connected to each other but I was not connected to them at all besdes Leigh. It made me miss my own community.

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Summer is drawing to a close.

We head to Chicago on Friday and then its just a short slide to school beginning again.

I miss the kids. I miss the order of my days. I miss the predictibility of my schedule. However I do not miss getting up at the butt crack of dawn and the rigors of working evey day. Its all a balance I know.

E is good to remind me to remain present in the here and now...to live in these moments and not worry about future ones.