Sorority Brunch

I went to a sorority brunch this weekend. For anyone who knows me, you’ll know that’s totally not me. I’m not a sorority girl, never was. It was never something I felt comfortable around, personally. But College Girl is in one, loves it, and invited us to the Family Brunch. I wasn’t about to say no.

To prepare me, she gave me a list of all her sorority sisters, who they were related to, how she knew them and information about them. Then she told me to study it so I’d know who people were. OMG there were a lot of them. I’m notorious for being terrible with her camp friend’s names, so I had to up my game here. On the plus side, there are a lot of them with the same names. On the minus side, there are a lot of them. But I studied and I think I learned about ten of them, which for me is amazing.

The night before the brunch we went out to dinner. Several of her sorority sisters showed up as well. The restaurant was dim, I was tired and quite honestly, they all looked the same. Half of them had their backs to me, several of them were blocked by other girls, and there was long, dark hair everywhere. I started getting nervous. Then she started telling me about them, except I wasn’t allowed to look over and make it obvious she was talking about them, so I have no idea who was there. I told you, I’m hopeless with names. On our way out, we stopped at one table with two girls and their parents. Two girls I can handle. I knew who they were. I even put the parents with the right girls. Yay me. Things were looking up.

The day of the brunch, I dressed and put on makeup and studied the list of names again. I could do this. All I had to do was eat and smile. No problem. We went to the sorority house—it was the first time I’d ever been in one (we didn’t have them when I was in college because apparently, more than eight girls living in one house was considered a whorehouse). It was also the first time teenagers/college students had ever waited on me. I’m not sure which shocked me more. 

Everyone was very nice. Some were friendlier than others, but everyone was polite and I managed not to embarrass College Girl. I remembered names, I figured out faces and I didn’t tell her that it wasn’t until the very end that I realized who one of the girls we were talking to was. Oops. 

I met parents who were really nice. I chatted with people, supported a philanthropy project and even got to see the bedrooms. The weather was almost spring like, so we took pictures outside—a lot of pictures. Then I watched them clean up. Yes, watched. Not only wasn’t I allowed to help, they weren’t allowed to complain or dawdle. It was amazing. 

I survived. I learned names and found out College Girl's sorority sisters are really nice. I enjoyed the brunch. And I could even do it again, if I’m ever invited back.