I wrote about Laura and Rachel, a couple of my best childhood friends last week. But, another overwhelming group to write about is the group of women I became close with in my sorority. Like, Laura and Rach, they are like scaffolding and sticky, too. Our love is rooted in deep knowing and understanding of one another.
This group is beyond supportive and we are still in touch nearly every day thanks to a group “What’s App” chat. There the conversations can range from fashion and parenting consulting, to work venting and sharing the same funny stories about something that happened fifteen years ago, to anything Purdue related and lots of advice for midlife’s mundanity like car buying to even what to serve for dinner.
(Literally all topics discussed in the chat just this past weekend…)
This group really good about staying in touch out of our phones, too. Even before we left college, we made an effort to connect on breaks be it at the lake in the summer or for New Years on Winter Break. Post grad, we visited each other’s new apartments and made plans for drinks when work had us traveling. The season of weddings and babies brought all sorts of group travel and get togethers. Even as that season has shifted a bit, bringing more responsibly and commitments, we still make an effort to get together when life presents us with an opportunity. There is already big chatter about doing a blow out trip the year we all turn 40. And still to this day, we really try to get back to Purdue for at least one game a football season. (Something we are doing this week!)
It’s pretty amazing that our bond is still there.
Also still there? Our shared love of food.
A long standing joke is that there are only two things that can make our group quiet down:
- Someone taking a group photo– can’t smile when your chatty!
- Our food arriving at a restaurant.
We are all pretty big fans of food and love to share food together be it via recipes, connecting over a meal, cooking together, sharing our gardens, and more.
The origins of the food that we still eat together are varied. There is of course the sorority favorites prepared by in-house chefs that we still gush about today. Things like Bagel Bar (a lunch hit!), puppy chow (often an afterschool snack set out for us), and scotcheroos for dessert. We even made a cookbook of the best of all of them for a Mom’s Day fundraiser. There is also the influence of our families of origin because many of the college years and early post grad years included everyone’s parent’s welcoming us into their homes as one of their own. Anne’s mom made a chai tea mix whenever we came to her house. Haleigh’s mom introduced us to Taco Soup the night we went to their house to watch Miss Indiana win Miss America. Betsy’s mom was alway sending her back to our shared, post grad apartment with cookies.
But, also our early twenties were marked by the rise and massive popularity of Pinterest.
And, wow. Did we ever Pinterest.
We dove right in.
It makes sense a group of recession grads, not to mention sorority women, gravitated toward Pinterest. It packaged an elevated lifestyle in an attainable fashion and hit the buckets of lifestyle we were experiencing and curating for the first time, in real time, on– and off– our online boards: Fashion, crafts, home decor, weddings, and cooking.
So many of our trips together had– and still have– a “pitch in” element. Weekends at the lake, bachelorettes, tailgates… We are older now, and many in this group have grown into really great cooks, but still some of the earliest recipes we found on Pinterest or those from the chapter house or someone’s parents persist as some of our favorites today. And they are always requested by the group to make an appearance at our next get together.
In this group of foodies, we have been lucky to have many great meals out in really neat restaurants all over. From Chicago to Miami, DC to Charleston, Indy and many more. But, for me, the most memorable meals are the ones that we pitch in together, make these old favorite recipes, and just eat in.
A meal like this is often on the first night of a trip, lake weekend, or bachelorette. Everyone coming in at different times based on flights and work days leads us to keep it casual. It’s nothing special, just a hodge podge of all our favorite snacks and sweet and plenty of drinks. But, it’s the closest we get to “hanging out” (doing nothing, but together) as we get these days.
Hanging out used to be all we did. Laying around watching Dawson’s Creek, sort of studying, girls coming and going, rehashing conversations with fraternity men, and making plans for the weekend. These nights in feel a lot like that again. When we are in comfy clothes and just us again. We are not on a time crunch or at the mercy of a DJ so even the music is ours. We might get a little third glass of wine close only to remember that we always were and always will be.
When so much changes, this doesn’t.
And, neither will the snacks.
Leave a Reply