George Bush and dog paintings, chicken and waffles, Snoop Dog and Martha Stewart. All of these are combinations you wouldn't think would pair well together but somehow do.

Want to hear another one? Chronic illness and sorority life.

If you're familiar with my writing you know I write a lot about being chronically ill (like here, and this article, oh, and this one) as well as being a southern srat girl (article here and here and here) but I've never really talked about how the two match up in a really weird but awesome way.

Here's a quick run-down of my chronic illness, POTS, if you're already familiar feel free to skip the following paragraph:

So basically once puberty hit, my autonomic nervous system (ANS, the system that controls things like heart rate, digestion, blood pressure, etc) decided it was just too exhausting to deal with "growing into adulthood" and "hormones" and switched over to a part-time schedule.

With my ANS not working as hard as it should be, my digestion is making all kinds of mistakes left and right, moving too fast or too slow, my heart overreacts to things and can't calm down, and I'm susceptible to pre-syncope episodes (pre-fainting) because my vagus nerve is basically an incompetent high school intern, among many other symptoms.

Whether my ANS will ever switch back to full time is TBD, there are things I can do to increase the work schedule of my ANS, but nothing is guaranteed.

Nothing about the "stereotypical sorority experience" screams "great place for chronically ill girls!" From partying to athletic sorority and fraternity events, such as intramurals— you would think the atmosphere isn't the best for someone who's sick.

But my experience has been quite the opposite.

The first experience that made me feel welcome was learning about my current sorority's philanthropy, Arthritis Research, during recruitment my freshman year.

During philanthropy day, the girls talked about Juvenile Arthritis, described autoimmune conditions, and mentioned that it was an "invisible illness" which was so exciting for me since I have an invisible illness and most people don't know what one of those is.

I felt not only a connection to the philanthropy, but I knew if I joined Alpha Omicron Pi, they would be understanding of my own autoimmune invisible illness, POTS.

Another thing I absolutely love about being in a sorority is that even for someone who may not have the physical stamina to have a super demanding leadership role, there are plenty of small chair positions and cabinet positions that are perfect.

Next year I'm going to be house manager, which is perfect because even if I'm having a flare up and need to lay down in my room, I can still do my job because I live there!

And I can't even begin to tell you about the countless times my sisters have helped me in a crisis, kept me company during panic attacks and pre-syncope (pre-fainting) episodes, brought me Gatorade when I was dizzy and dehydrated, and encouraged me to get up and go to class on days I just felt so tired I didn't want to go.

My sorority has been more than accommodating to my illness and has made college life while sick so much easier.

So if you're chronically ill in college and want to rush but are worried about accommodations, give it a go!

More than likely your future sorority will not only tolerate your chronic illness, but also support you during the rough times and build you up to be the best damn sick girl you can be.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider donating to www.greenhouse17.org in memory of one of my sorority sisters, Hailee Jean Conrad , who also suffered from chronic illness and wanted to dedicate her life to helping those affected by domestic violence.