A Southern themed Alabama rush!
 

The day DD3 & DD4 decided to rush was a tiring one. DD3 wanted recs for each house at her university while DD4 decided that she didn’t plan on joining some houses so why should she get letters? I warned her that Bama Rush is brutal and that she couldn’t count on legacy status but she went on the sorority ranking website, chose a few houses she liked on Instagram, and decided that she wanted to be in a few certain houses.

She gathered up a few recommendations for those certain houses, didn’t want to go shopping until the day before leaving, and she seemed to procrastinate until it was past the mark of “too late” and Grandma and I had to sit, hunched over in despair, and tap out texts and emails to our friends to try and gather recs.

She also decided to dye her hair at the last moment and so Grandma and I had to find a way to fix it. Rush at Bama is tough and so I became very worried that she focus on how she had “southern blood” and how she only wanted to be in “old row” houses instead of going where she was needed.

Welcome to the most stressful week of my entire life!

You deserve a "Mom of the Year" award for enduring two rushes like these! Can't wait to read more....you're a wonderful storyteller so it will be great reading.

One question - were both girls rushing during the same week? Or was it sequential? Either way it had to be brutal....

Can't wait to hear more! Two major recruitments in one year? NYCMS is correct, you deserve Mom of the Year!

The same week! DD3 and DD4 don’t get along sometimes and they got in a blowout and so we all had to split up! DD3 took Dad and DD4 took me, I hope to never have another child rush again at this point but I still have one boy who’s going through!

:) Oh mamma you certainly have earned a well deserved break after two requirements this year!

3!

I haven’t had a break since the kids were young! Now that I’m officially an empty nester, I thought that I could have a moment of silence but some of my sisters are coming to see us because of the hurricane! I’ll have time to sleep in 2019, it seems!

Oh my... this is going to be an interesting story! Can't wait....

I am glued to my computer awaiting an update!!

Three!!! Holy Canoli! Mother of Pearl!!:eek:

Please keep us updated before Florence hits land! Based on the last one, I suspect this will be a great thread!

GreekOne, I was thinking the same thing!

As a mother, I have been conditioned to worry about my younger daughter, DD3, DD4 is her older twin sister. When they were born DD4 was a whopping 11 lbs 5 oz to DD3’s 2 lbs 3 oz. We had to wake DD3 once every half hour 24/7 so we could make sure that she was still alive. With DD4, she slept like a rock. And so in the Alabama humidity, I found myself shaking DD4 awake everyday and helping her with her outfits and makeup because she’d refused my help choosing anything originally and now that it was too late, I was expected to mom up.

The Houses:

Nick Saban
Bryant Denny
Tuscaloosa
National Champions
Crimson Tide
Roll Tide
Big Al
Crimsonettes
Million Dollar Band
Capstone
Magnolia
Southern Charm
Beat Auburn
Homecoming
Football Season
Houndstooth
Crimson and White
Sweet Home, Alabama

Nick Saban:
DD4’s first house. She wasn’t expecting the door songs, she told me that she’d gotten whiplash just from watching the girls throw their hair around. She liked the girls at Nick Saban *but* she felt like the house was too southern for her. She also mentioned that the house was too big for her to get to have even a short conversation with anyone.

Bryant Denny:
This house is new on campus. DD4 didn’t like them because they don’t have a legacy at Bama (“And you do?” Grandma responded “This is your year to make and shape your own legacy”), she also didn’t like their colors because they make her look “washed out” and so all in all, Bryant Denny didn’t cut it for the impossibly high standards of DD4.

Tuscaloosa:
DD4 had a talk about teeth with a Tuscaloosa lady. DD4 wants to be a dentist and so she spoke to another girl who wants to be a dentist. She didn’t feel the click and also didn’t like the colors (I almost exploded at her, the colors are the last thing that she has to worry about), she also didn’t like that their hand sign is so hard to do.

National Champions:
My sorority. One of DD4’s legacy houses. I was expecting her to have a great time but apparently they didn’t treat her like a legacy (because Alabama has bazillions of legacies going to each house) and so she admitted that she sulked through the entire round.

Are you all seeing a difference between DD3 and DD4? Absolute polar opposites.

Oh, these installments are going to be amazing! The color thing made me laugh out loud and Grandma's response? The perfect comeback, she is a very wise woman. And the hand signs? Hilarious.

And oh boy is right...polar opposites. I can't wait to hear more, this should make for a very interesting rush.

P.S. I love the house names!

Normally, I skim over house descriptions in the first round of recruitment stories, but I am hooked on every word.

Normally I skip the first round descriptions, but after reading the West Coast Recruitment, I'm hooked!



Love Grandma's comments!!!

:)

Crimson Tide:
DD4 didn’t like them. She thought that the house put a big emphasis on Jesus, I understand feeling uncomfortable if you’re not part of a religion but DD4 saved up to buy a diamond cross from Tiffany’s for months and she choose to go to the buckle of the Bible Belt for her education. Anyway, after I’d pointed out the cross around her neck and she’d tucked it into her dress, she told me that she didn’t like the Crimson Tide ladies.

Roll Tide:
The issue with Roll Tide was their physical house. She didn’t like the architecture and so, therefore, she didn’t like the girls. She also didn’t like their symbols or their philanthropy (At this point, Grandma decided to withhold advice and let DD4 do her own thing.)

Big Al:
DD4 decided to point out that the ladies of Big Al weren’t the most in shape. I said “DD4, it’s easy to lose weight but it’s harder to lose a bad attitude.”, DD4 decided that physical attractiveness was an extremely important factor for her and so she wouldn’t go back to Big Al. “Okay” was Grandma’s response.

Crimsonettes:
DD4 LOVED THEM. And I hated them. The way that she described the house kind of...unnerved me. She made it sound like the sisters that she’d spoken to were Crimsonettes Fanatics. She also loved that they wore cute outfits and curled their hair. Grandma let out an audible sigh.

Million Dollar Band:
“They’re not popular and they don’t mix with any of the good fraternities, also, all the girls that I talked to were kind of unfortunate.” was DD4’s very kind comment on the Million Dollar Ladies. I saw some of them later on and, let me tell you, these girls looked like a million bucks. They were put together and poised and they looked happy to be around each other.

Capstone:
“They’re not popular on any other campus and they’re not popular here. They also screamed like I was deaf and their house decorations were kind of tacky.” DD4 informed us.

Magnolia:
DD4 told us that the rumors about Magnolia were pretty heavy according to tent talk and the Greek ranking website and that one of the girls that she’d talked to had lipstick on her tooth. Grandma started looking for cheap tickets to New Orleans so we could skedaddle.

Southern Charm:
According to DD4, they didn’t have any Southern Charm but some of the best people I’ve ever met are shy at first. She also didn’t like their colors (they’re the school colors which she happens to LOVE) or the fact that their house was tacky (it’s a beautiful house filled with beautiful girls.) and so Grandma and I took a walk through the heat to buy some boxed wine to speed up rush week.

I almost forgot to mention! The day that rush started, DD4 shook me awake to tell me that Grandma wouldn’t wake up. I made a flying leap (Well, I mostly fell) over the couch to get to Grandma because I thought she’d up and died on me and I wasn’t about to tell my husband that Alabama Rush had killed his mother (I also didn’t want to be alone in Tuscaloosa), I got to her room to find her taking out her curlers because she’d decided on getting an extra five minutes of sleep instead of joining in on my 4 am heart attack.

Oh my Goodness...I just want to come and have some boxed wine with you and Grandma. I'm crying I'm laughing so hard....and I'm at work so that's not good!

IMVHO Grandma and Mom deserve a medal for their support, patience and dedication for DD4. (Not sure my mother or I would have the patience and our careers demand patience as a necessary qualification.):rolleyes: My sister would have unleashed holy He!! by now.)

I'm dying laughing! To be completely honest, I had some of the same ridiculous thoughts about chapters before I went through recruitment and I so wished I had some of the grace and wisdom as you and your mother in law seem to have. If DD4 is anything like me, she'll be kicking herself soon for being so obstinate.

Beat Auburn:
DD4 said that the girl talking to her didn’t have different lengths of fingers and I almost just died on the spot. She also didn’t like that she didn’t like the chandelier in the house.

Homecoming:
“Tacky McDonald’s colors” and the sorority isn’t southern enough. Grandma and I stopped with the boxed wine and we hit the harder beverages and the more carbohydrate laden food. After a long day of DD4 complaining, Grandma and I hit the BBQ so hard that the seam of my pants split.

Football Season:
She didn’t like that the house was too small although it sleeps around 60 girls. DD4 also didn’t like that their crest was on the floor and that apparently was kind of tacky.

Houndstooth:
She hated this house and didn’t like the symbols, the colors, or the hand sign. She wasn’t interested at all and she made dang clear that she wouldn’t be a sister of houndstooth.

Crimson and White:
A horrible reputation due to events that hit the news. DD4 absolutely loved them though and she wanted to be a sister so desperately since she liked everything about them so much. Grandma and I decided to hit a bakery and split a dozen donuts.

Sweet Home:
Sweet Home doesn’t go through formal recruitment but DD4 was no fan. She didn’t meet any of the girls and STILL managed to have a bad opinion on women she’d never even met.

Day 1 had passed with DD4 who managed to have a horrid mood or opinion about almost everyone. DD4 said “I’m here to tell you that I don’t have anything nice to say and I’m gonna say it anyway!” and so Grandma and I decided that we did have nice things to say and we were going to bombard DD4 with all the positive things we had to say about all the nice girls and houses.

I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out how to log back in so I could cheer this post along!! This is some GOOD READING!!! I really want to hang with Grandma and some boxed wine and donuts.

At least she is an equal opportunity hater. What made her decide to rush?

DD4 does whatever DD3 does. DD3 and her older sister don’t get along at all and so DD4 does whatever she can to imitate DD3’s life.

Grandma and I hit the BBQ so hard that the seam of my pants split.
I seriously just had diet coke come out of my nose.

How did DD4 rank the houses? normally PNMs talk of the houses they would accept an ivitation from and those they would rather not. It sounds like there are only 2 or 3 houses that fall into the first category!

Reminds me of a story I heard from a woman who was part of the team to help incoming freshman move into the dorms. The freshman arrived with a LOT of stuff and unloaded the car, while the helper and the Freshman's dad carried everything up the stairs. (I should add the weather was abnormally hot & humid.) When the Freshman finally arrived upstairs to see her dorm room, she declared, "I Can't live in THIS!!" and promptly went back downstairs. So the dad and helper carried everything back downstairs and re-loaded the car!

DD4 didn’t tell me how she ranked the houses and I didn’t bother asking! Her choices were all very interesting as will be reflected second round!

Has DD4 ever read Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"? Sometimes the absolute perfect match gives off not so perfect first impressions!

This is a really fun recruitment story to read, I am hoping for an epiphany...

I am DYING at this story. You are an angel of a mother for helping her with all this.

I'm curious - and if this is too personal, please feel free not to answer - did your twins have twin-to-twin transfusion? I had identical twin boys (4.5 now so a long way to go before they consider going Greek) and this was something I was monitored for.

No, I didn’t know I was having twins until DD3 appeared in all of her near death glory. The ultrasound techs never counted her heartbeat because it was so weak and it was assumed that it was DD4’s. DD3 also was thought to be stillborn until she decided to start screeching when she was born. It was a mistake on the doctor’s part but I’ve never been so grateful to have a daughter in my arms. Congrats on your sons! I have many myself!

I’ve always been a bit too thin and when I saw my husband after that trip, he told me that I was glowing. My secret? I gained 15 pounds!

DD3 had her Jane Austen phase and I got so sick of seeing Mr. Darcy (NOT the Colin Firth Mr. Darcy) that I banned Mr. Farcey from the house.

TriDDDeltagirl, your stories are so juicy that I've re-read them a few times just to keep laughing. This is better than the most compelling novel out there - truly. You have me (and I think others) literally on our toes waiting for the next installment. I really can't wait to see how this continues to go and how it ended as well!

I just finished reading Lisa Patton's Rush (and loved it). This is better. I'm still chuckling over the "didn’t have different lengths of fingers", "Tacky McDonald's colors" and my favorite "She didn’t meet any of the girls and STILL managed to have a bad opinion on women she’d never even met."

I'm guessing Grandma's round one questions fell on deaf ears.

I live close enough to Tuscaloosa that I see "Old Row" shirts pop up at the nail salon, the mall. They annoy me, because at my own school, my sorority's chapter, at 54 years old is one of the "new ones".

That said, this story is excellent. More!!!!

I'm laughing because my daughter also made comments while going through about colors and hand signs! I kept shaking my head and telling her that this stuff REALLY doesn't matter...silly girls!

This may be my favorite rush thread ever! BTW, I now have a soft spot for DD3 since I was 2 lbs and 4 oz when I was born. <3

PS: I want to hang out with grandma. :cool:

The Houses:

Nick Saban
Crimsonettes
Southern Charm
Big Al
Million Dollar Band
Crimson and White
Tuscaloosa
Crimson Tide
Homecoming
Football Season
Houndstooth

Grandma and I left DD4 to her own devices. I refused to wake up at 3 am and Grandma decided that DD4 should be alone for a the next few nights and have freedom before college started. I think this was just a scam so she wouldn’t have to sleep on DD4’s sofa but I appreciated it immensely because I was camped out on the floor. Grandma and I took off our letters, took out the liquor, and started on our high calorie food tour of Tuscaloosa. If DD4 wasn’t going to enjoy herself, I was. I tossed my food diary in the trash, took off my high heels, and found myself going back to Walmart for another frozen cheesecake, hot wings, and frozen margarita mix at 2 am wearing crocs, leggings, and a baggy shirt. Did I care? No, but I picked up tums heartburn tablets because I’m getting older and I like to avoid any repercussions after I have spicy food.

Nick Saban:
DD4 went for hating them because they weren’t southern enough to loving them because their house was painted a tacky color. Grandma and I were in the Taco Bell drive through as she started her tirade, Nick Saban hadn’t lit her fire because their biggest chapter happens to be at Alabama (like every other house here, I’m sure) and they’re not popular enough for her on a national level.

Crimsonettes:
What can I say? She loved them. She loved their big teeth and big curls and how they talked with southern accents, she also completely ignored the fact that they’re not popular out of the south because apparently “being popular at Bama is all that matters”, I love my daughter but her hypocrisy left me stunned at times.

Southern Charm:
“Why did they ask me back? Mom, why did they do this to me? I thought it was a mutual dislike.” DD4 complained. She also didn’t like how the lawn was cut and so I asked her if she’d like me to run down to the local John Deere store so she could make sure that the lawn was manicured to her perfect sky high standards.

Big Al:
DD4 made a few unkind jokes about the shape of the girls at Big Al and Grandma and I exchanged a look “If you’re not ready to rush this year, feel free to rush next. But saying childish things about good people won’t get you into any house or in anyone’s good graces.” was our response.

At this point, Grandma got fed up and said “The Lord Jesus Christ could float down from Heaven and proclaim you the holiest legacy south of the Mason-Dixon Line and the sororities at Alabama still wouldn’t look twice at you since your danged attitude is so awful. To be a sorority lady, you have to act like one and treat others kindly and as a result, you’ll get that bid.”

Million Dollar Band:
DD4 told us that she’d skulked again in the corner since the girls weren’t keen on forcing her to have a nice time. She’d talked to a few girls but all in all she didn’t feel any love.

Crimson and White:
Perfection. If God himself had come down from the heavens, he would’ve created this chapter. According to DD4, this is the best chapter in all of history at Alabama. With genuine girls, lovely decorations, and a lot of things that worried us all. But DD4 is stubborn. Wouldn’t hear a warning word.