Trust the process.

Trust the process.

Trust the process.

This was one of the most overwhelming weeks of my college experience thus far. This was sorority Recruitment Week.

From the very beginning, it wasn’t all glitter, smiles, or laughter. Oh, no.

It was a week of constant comparison between you and hundreds of other girls, fighting off the urge to be influenced by others; a blur of brunettes, blonde and redheads all vying for spots in a house.

It was answering these questions eight times over:

“What’s your major?”

“Where are you originally from?”

“What made you want to join a sorority?”

After the first day, I was absolutely exhausted, my voice was fading fast, and my feet hurt from standing for the majority of the day. I was also extremely curious to see what my schedule would look like the next morning. I had made connections with a few houses and sisters that I felt completely comfortable with already during our allotted 25 minutes with them.

The next morning came slower than I would have liked and I could barely handle the anticipation. Our Rho Gamma group gathered together and immediately girls were called up one by one to receive the schedule that they would be following for the day. I watched as girls came and went, not one of them shedding a tear or acting worried about the schedule that they had been handed. If they were, then they hid it really well. It was my turn and I was feeling confident. Things went well the previous day, right?

Wrong.

I sat down, was handed my schedule and as my eyes ran across the piece of paper all that was staring back at me was a blank page until I got to the last slot.

One.

One house called me back.

One house out of eight.

Walking back to the table of girls, I had every opportunity to be the one in our Rho Gamma group that would have to wipe away the mascara streaming down her face, but instead, I held myself together. I thought, "Well, maybe this is a 'meant to be' sort of thing."

That night, I went back to that house for the house tour round, returned the following day for their philanthropy night and by preference day I had absolutely fallen in love.

With the house. With the philanthropy. And of course, with the sisters.

The conversations that I had with them during those two nights made me realize that I was exactly where I belonged and that things happened just exactly the way they were supposed to.

Walking home from preference night, I was already ready to run home to them.

*Cue the glitter, smiles, and laughter*

On Bid Day, I opened an envelope that held a card adorned with the gold lettering that I wanted so badly to see. On that day, the Pi Beta Phi house became my house, “Read, Lead, Achieve” became a philanthropy that I will always support, and the Pi Beta Phi sisters became my sisters.

To my new sisters of Pi Beta Phi at WVU, thank you.

In just a few short days you have become the family that I was looking for from the very start. You are girls to go the library with, to grab lunch with, to lip sync battle with, to call when I’m having a hectic day and girls that I know will always be there for me no matter what the circumstances may be. I can’t wait to take this crazy new adventure on with all of you.

I have found my wings and my new family in Pi Beta Phi.

Forever.