I met Erin, Heather, Emily, Christy and Liz my freshman year of college, 1998. I only spent one year at MU before making a decision that would change the entire course of my life. In that short year, I bonded with these girls in a way that I can't illustrate with words. We were strangers thrown into a new environment with one common denomitator-Gamma Phi Beta. But of all the girls in our pledge class, in our house, on that campus... we "chose" each other. We were next door neighbors in Jones Hall, we did EVERYTHING together. We ate our meals, walked to class, went to Wal-Mart, napped, watched 90210, studied, got ready, celebrated many birthdays at El Maguey's, and watched out for each other at the bars and frat parties. EVERYTHING. And then The Bachelor came along and I let him ruin a very good thing. I left MU to follow the guy I thought I would marry. WRONG. That's a whole other post, one that's not worth its weight in bandwidth it would require to explain.
Fall 1998. G-Phi birthday party at El Maguey's.
So Erin and I have a mutual friend, Ryan, that we met at MU as well. He's the brother I never had (can you tell I wish that I had like 10 siblings??), and he was responsible for "reuniting" Erin and I. BTW, anyone 20-ish and single--he is a catch! Let me know if you're interested, we're always on the lookout for him.
June 2008. That's Ryan. Someone should really snag him!
Focus Val, where were you going with this? Oh yeah...
After college, Erin and the rest of the crew moved to Chicago, and of course were still like sisters. She was always saying I should come visit, but to be honest, I was scared. I left them for such a STUPID reason... And I was SO wrong about "him"... And they had stayed so CLOSE all these years and had all these inside jokes I didn't get... How would I "fit back in??" But after much encouragement from Erin, I booked my ticket to O'Hare.
I'll try to keep this short...
The first thing Emily said to me when she saw me was something along the lines of "Wow... You are ballsy, coming back after all this time!" And then she gave me a huge hug. My sweet Heather announced, "The Locust has returned!" It was a fabulous visit to say the least, and my heart was broken to leave them again. I knew things would never be like they used to be; I went one way while they had gone another. I knew I would never be part of what they had now; too much time had passed. But that's okay with me. It just felt really good to be back, if only for 3 days... For those 3 days, and for the year I spent with you girls--thank you. Those were some of the best times of my life, frozen in time. And thank you, Erin, for continuing to stay touch. It means the world to me!
October 2006. The Locust Returns-and goes to a Caddyshack Party! {Emily, Christy, me, Erin, and Heather}
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