Love and Be Loved

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.

This weekend I embarked on a trip to Tucson, Arizona for Kappa Alpha Theta Grand Convention, a trip that, as cheesy as it sounds, has forever changed the way I will look at my sorority. The first night we were there I sat in a room filled with over 700 of my sisters.  A room full of women, leaders, scholars, and beauty inside and out, and these women were my sisters. We spent the next few days talking about improving ourselves, congratulating each other on our many accomplishments, supporting each other in our difficulties and simply celebrating 142 years of sisterhood. I felt more love from strangers than I ever had in my life, from a simple “I’m a Theta too!” to a random girl hugging me in the elevator because my shirt said, “I need hug” with a picture of Dumbo. Tucson was overflowing with Theta love. And that became the theme of the week to me, love. A goal in my life is to love and be loved, because with that all things good are possible. But it wasn’t until this week I realized I looked at my goal in the wrong way. To love and be loved didn’t have to involve marriage, or a boy at all, I can achieve my goal, I can gain all things good, simply through my sisters.

On that note, my sister’s raised my standards gentleman wise. I had the privilege of sitting next to a remarkable woman, whose almost equally remarkable husband opened a 25,000 dollar scholarship in her name to help out her sisters who he knew she loved more than anything. So my new standard developed at that table: a man who not only appreciates my love for my sisters but tries to understand it. And while I realize men aren’t the only ones that can make us feel loved, I’m thankful that I have a life full of them that do.

 On Friday we had fun night, we danced and sang, but my night took a quick turn after a phone call that informed me one of my high school friends had passed away in a car accident. Not wanting to ruin others nights I waited to go inside until I got it together, but walking through the doors into the building and being greeted by two ladies from my chapter I broke down. Because we can’t seem to lie to our sisters can we? At a time where everything seemed wrong and upside down, and no one had the right words, I didn’t feel completely alone.

So, in conclusion, I won’t ever be able to find the words that will express how the past five days have changed me. How the people I have surrounded myself with in my life have impacted me, and how happy I am that on that day in September of 2010 I accepted a bid that quickly became one of the best decisions of my college career. Theta hasn’t only taught me to raise my standards, to help others and to be the best I can be at all times, it has taught me to love and be loved. Theta has brought me all things good.