Right, you ask....and I deliver!
For quite a long time, a woman I know (let's call her "Ally" for "Ally Alumnae") had been suggesting I give
Varekai a try. I knew all about
Varekai already as there had been a chapter at my university. That was one of the few sororities I didn't rush as it seemed to me to be one of the chapters that only über popular and pretty girls joined. Ok, so I wasn't a dork or anything at college; I was actually sort of "popular" in my own right. I just wasn't an especially stylish "girly-girl".
Again, it seemed like one of those "not in a million years would they consider me" situations.
Yet, Ally really seemed to think that I would make a great member of
Varekai. However, every time she mentioned it, I was already involved in pursuing AI with one of the other organizations.
Now, just days after
Alegria fell through, Ally e-mailed me saying that if I wanted to consider
Varekai, she would be first in line to help me out. Odd timing considering she had no idea about
Alegria (as far as I know!).
I gave
Varekai's website and ideals a thorough read. I thought through it quite a bit and started to see great things. I always liked this org, I just never thought I would have a chance. One thing that excited me was that there appeared to be a LOT of opportunity to get involved. That was very important to me! I got over my feelings of "Why would you want me? I'm not a cheerleader!" ('cause I know my university's chapter is just *one* in the grand scheme of things) and told Ally that I would be interested in giving
Varekai a chance.
That was all she needed to hear.
It was as if she was like lightning on the telephone and keyboard, contacting all of the relevant people in an instant (I'm talking, like, less than one hour later).
One afternoon, I went looking around the website for one of the chapters at a local university. In their alumnae section, I saw a name listed as the Alumnae Chapter President. It turns out that this lady and I both had been members of a local figure skating club!!! This alumnae member, let's call her "Jewel", had been friends with my ice skating coach! What a small world! I shared this with Ally who promptly got in touch with her.
Just a couple of weeks after I first gave the green light to
Varekai (no pun intended), I received an e-mail from Jewel telling me how excited she was that I was considering AI. We reminisced a bit about the good ol' days when we skated at the same rink and chatted about
Varekai. She said that she was no longer the Alumnae Chapter President, but that she'd look into the calendar of events to see what was coming up.
Before she accomplished that, Ally managed to arrange for us all to have lunch together at a local restaurant. Also in attendance were Ally's mom and a sister from Ally's chapter who was in town visiting. We had a great time chatting, getting to know each other, hearing funny stories about being a sister of
Varekai and enjoying the amazing ocean view from the restaurant.
I'm not sure what all was going on behind the scenes, but, the next thing I know,
Varekai HQ had given the go-ahead for me to complete the AI process with Ally being my sponsor and Jewel working on getting the collegiate chapter approval.
In the meantime, Ally requested my presence at her house so that we could complete my new member training! It was just way too exciting! One of the things I remember was Ally sitting there patiently as I agonized over which badge to choose.
While the paperwork was being sorted out, the current Alumnae Chapter President contacted me to introduce herself. She was very gracious in praising Jewel for filling in for her while she was away (with regards to working on my AI paperwork). She asked me to get in touch with her so that we could meet up for coffee or something. How nice of her to have such faith in her sisters! Also, I had to go around to Jewel's house to pick up my new member manual. While there, I met her precious family and we had a great time chatting and visiting. Jewel even recently phoned me "just because" and invited me around to her house for a get-together that had nothing to do with
Varekai.
Everyone embraced me immediately as if I was already a member of
Varekai. It felt like there was no question about whether or not I was a sister.
I was....we just simply hadn't met yet.
Who would have thought it? The
one chapter at my undergrad university that I felt I had the
least chance of getting a bid from, turned out to be the place I run home to.
What a wild, excruciatingly long, and better-than-a-bad-soap-opera seven years it has been.
I am on the home stretch. I managed to get a place as one of only four women to be presented for alumnae initiation at
Varekai's International Convention.
In less than two weeks, on Saturday, June 26 at 3pm, I will be be initiated as a member of the Epsilon Gamma chapter of.....
Gamma Phi Beta
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