the big rocks

I was driving by sorority row yesterday when I was reminded how much everything really has changed. Ok, ok, so I don't want to sound like a nostalgic sap, but it was bid day. I remember how, six years ago, I excitedly sat on top of my bid- wondering, hoping- that I was going to be an alpha gam. Then, when we got the go-ahead, I ripped it open and saw it was true. I got my first bid. I ran down to the bottom of Bryant-Denny Stadium to a group of girls, my new pledge sisters, who were standing around hugging each other next to an AGD sign. I didn't know anyone.. except for Mandy. She was a girl who was from my hometown and who had been in the same high school sorority as me. We weren't close, but I was thankful that I at least knew someone. Yes, I thought to myself, this is a good beginning.. a lucky start.. and I am going to know these girls the rest of my life. Fast forward six years. Saturday night I was at Mandy's house that she shares with her husband, throwing a "stock the bar" shower for kristi, one of our pledge sisters, and her fiancee. A few of our other sisters were there, all married or engaged. Mr. Goatee was with me. He at first gawked when we pulled up in a line of new SUVs and everyone got out in their sundresses with beaus in tow- and series of "W" stickers. Lindsay, another sorority sister and hostess, had "GOPgirl" as her license plate. The entire evening, the girls and their husbands discussed where the best place to buy a beach home was, how the rich got taxed too much and how to get out of it. Meanwhile, they all had huge rocks on their fingers. One of the girls that was there, not a sister, had at least a four carat. I was mesmerized by it, somewhat surprised she could even hold up her hand. Mr. Goatee had also noticed the rings early in the evening. "I want to go ahead and tell you that I will never be able to buy you a ring like that," he told me. Yes.. I thought to myself.. but that doesn't mean we won't be happy, even if we don't have a beach house.