[BlueBayou]

I LOVE my first born Flower with all my heart. But she is not the kind of gal to take selfies (Her sister Blossom will hijack your phone and change your lock screen to her in some ridiculous pose. Blossom will also send me pictures from her day at school, if she is bored).

I talked with Flower on the way back from pref. She was not sharing much information. Like virtually none. She said it was "good" and she just wanted to go back to the dorm and sleep. There was no excitement whatsoever. And I could tell she was nervous. Plus with her introverted nature - she probably spent the last 3 days communicating and having to be "on" in a way has hasn't had to do in years. She was mentally exhausted.

I explained what I knew about RFM and MRABA at that point, trying to calm her nerves. She seemed to want to lash out at me for knowing so much. "Being a know it all." I said she did not have to accept a bid from West if she did not want it. This angered her. She said she really liked them, that I was expecting her to have a reaction and show emotions in a way that was not her. I said I did not want her to be disappointed. She said she was not and that I was really annoying her. Oh and we got into a fight about taking her phone to bid night. She said that they said to bring your student ID. She was taking that to mean only your student ID, no phone. I said I had never heard of a phone free bid day. There was back and forth on this. I got off the phone with her with the understanding that she would NOT have her phone.

Basically, I wanted to see some excitement from her and that is just not my kid in a situation like this.

I really thought Flower would call me while she was getting ready for Bid Night and tell me she did not get a phone call releasing her from recruitment. But she did not. But that is probably because she decided to take her phone to bid day.

I confess that I stalked her on Find my iPhone. Once I saw that she was at the student center I sent her a text.

This is a verbatim of my communication with her.
Me: Hey baby
Her: I have to go. I brought my phone
(1:49 minutes later)
Her: I'll call you tomorrow after class to tell you about it. I'm to (sic) busy tonight.
Me: Did you pledge West?????
Her: Yes
Me: Are you happy?
Her: Yes
Me: Please take pictures. Have a great night.

I don't hear from her again until 1:04pm the next day. She sends me a photo of her bid card with a little tag that says truly and a rose petal on it. When I asked her about it - she said that her bid day buddy gave her a rose with the tag on the stem. All the new members got a rose with a tag of a West virtue. And she got Truly, because they could tell she was someone who stays true to themselves.

True to herself

Wow. That is how she did recruitment and her sisters saw that and respected it.

The only other photo was a sign welcoming the new members. Seriously she did not take a photo of herself or her new sisters.

I asked her what quota was. She didn't know. I asked how many new members were in her pledge class. She told me 15 or 20. That concerned me because I was expected quota to be around 30. Yes, as you would expect, my interrogation was annoying to Flower. (REMINDER - I worked behind the scenes handling references and the bid list when I was in college. When people say "very few chapter members know who was where on a bid list" and know exactly how things work -I was one of those chapter members. I helped form rotation groups and match with rushees. So my curiosity comes from what I did my junior and senior years. And frankly we kinda did what RFM does without the aide of computers)

So back to Flower. I want her to be in a healthy chapter and significantly off quota would be concerning. This is not a struggling chapter (I watched a chapter die when I was in college, so sad) it is new and they just graduated the first class of the founders. They had a larger number of graduates that any other chapter. Quota was probably in the 30s the year they colonized and I think they started with 57 members, most freshmen. So this recruitment is an important one.

During my phone call with Flower - she laughed and said her instagram followers just went over 100. The journalist in me clicked on. She is connecting with her sisters! An opportunity to cyber stalk.

By looking at the West chapter social media - and the new sisters she is connected with - I find the new member picture. I think Flower needs to work on her crowd estimation skills. I counted 32 very happy looking new members. (With the additional COB members folded into the pledge class they are now well over 40). I also find candid photo of her "running home." There is a look of pure joy on her face. I also find a photo of another new member, Flower, and their bid day buddies.

The next day I get a frantic call about finding an all white dress. She needed it immediately for her pin ceremony. Now I knew she would probably need an all white dress. She would have for her legacy chapter. But with the way the black nails and makeup went - I did not push the issue. I think I mentioned it once during the summer, but she made no effort. And I really didn't want a dress she would never wear anywhere else hanging in her dorm closet if recruitment hadn't worked out.

She finds what looks like a dress made out of a white gauze sack. Maybe leftover from when a mummy upgraded his wardrobe. Have I mentioned she does not take selfies? The photo she sent from dressing room was ridiculously bad. She didn't bother to take off her shirt or jeans when trying it on, adding to the sack silhouette. Why did she bother to go to the dressing room - she could have tried in on over her clothes in the Target aisle. She sent the photo and a text "Is this good?" Oh how do I answer that. And it looked ecru instead of white. I told her to buy it and we could find something later if they balked at the color. We were "snow white" back in the day - that dress looked too off white to me. But it really may have been the shadows, poor angle and the florescent lighting in the target dressing room. (after I "approved" the selection - I gave it a more critical look. I suspect when not worn over a pair of jeans it might actually look okay).

Oh and most importantly - she was having to buy nail polish remover because she had to have clear or natural nails for the ceremony. "So you get your way mom, I'm removing the black."

I later asked her how the ceremony went. She happily told me she couldn't tell me, it was a secret, and I'm a South not a West.