Zeta Is Forever

One of the gifts of fundraising for our adoption (aside from God using folks to help us raise the necessary money to fetch our kids) has been the unexpected love and generosity we have felt from friends and loved ones.  Most particularly, right now I want to thank my sorority sisters.  Women with whom I shared my college years are stepping into the gap for us.  And not just the ones I keep in contact with on a regular basis.  Yes, the handful of girls whom I see and chat with have helped.  Of course.  But so have women I haven't seen in 15 years.  Women I wasn't even really all that close to to begin with.

I'll say it.  I was pretty popular in my sorority.  I had friends in lots of circles because, well, (and Sloan rolls his eyes whenever I say this) I am a Ferris Bueller type.  I get along well with churchy types, artsy types, preppies, hipsters, debutantes, immigrants, athletes, nerds, and lushes.  Mainly because I'm a little bit of all of them.  I'm fairly certain I was one of the few sorority girls to work in Student Television.  I mean, I was a debutante who wore sneakers under my ball gown.  I can blend pretty much anywhere.  I tend to be genuine and turns out, most people find that they can let their hair down with me because my hair is always unkempt.  (Ok, so maybe I'm not humble...)  But sometimes these hodge podge affiliations can leave me feeling like maybe I'm just on the outskirts of everything, never really "in" with anyone. 

But my Zeta sisters are proving me wrong.  You guys are donating money, items for the auction, prayers and kind words.  And I am undone.  You are proving all of those haters who say the Greek system is a waste of time and a distraction wrong.  Yes, maybe we did party too much and all wear the same black pants and carry the same Kate Spade purse.  But we care.  You are showing me that we are sisters after all.  That Zeta really is forever.  And for that I am ever thankful. 

Our creed still holds true:

To realize that within our grasp, in Zeta Tau Alpha, lies the opportunity
to learn those things which will ever enrich and ennoble our lives; to be true
to ourselves, and to those within and without our circle; to think in terms
of all mankind and our service to the world; to be steadfast, strong, and clean
of heart and mind, remembering that since the thought is father to the deed,
only that which we would have manifested in our experience should be entertained
in thought; to find satisfaction in being, rather than seeming, thus strengthening
in us the higher qualities of the spirit; to prepare for service and learn the
nobility of serving, thereby earning the right to be served; to seek understanding
that we might gain true wisdom; to look for the good in everyone; to see
beauty, with its enriching influence; to be humble in success, and without bitterness
in defeat; to have the welfare and harmony of the Fraternity at heart, striving
ever to make our lives a symphony of high ideals, devotion to the right, the good,
and the true, without a discordant note; remembering always that the
foundation precept of Zeta Tau Alpha was love, "the greatest of all things".