Around my sorority's meeting room, we had a saying:

There are several meanings to this: you don't just represent your sorority during your college years, that the lessons you learn and bonds you form stay with you always, stuff like that. The way it presented itself to me most recently was that my duty to my sorority isn't over even though my undergraduate career is.

Of course, this was one of the more fun duties.

One of our traditions is that our Big Sisters give us a hand-painted box on our initiation, and we make them a paddle. The day we're initiated, we exchange them. Everyone loves seeing how creative our new members are and how the boxes their Bigs made for them reflect their personalities!

This was my initiation. I still have that box in my apartment and I marvel at its brilliance every day. Kaleigh (left), my Big, loved the wood stain on this side of her paddle; I could never figure out which side was her favorite.

When I took a Little, she made me a paddle, too! Used all of my favorite colors, and put a big bow on it, just like I had for Kaleigh's paddle (though she didn't know I'd done that). It's also hanging in my apartment.

Sisters get another paddle when they graduate, too. Usually, their Little--or Littles, if they have more than one--make that paddle. Mine was a special case, so Kaleigh actually ended up making my graduation paddle.

Especially because of this, I was more than happy to put the work into hers when it came time for her graduation.

I definitely knew what I was going to do for one side of the paddle--"my" side, if Kaleigh's other Little (my "twin") had her heart set on something, too. My twin was ecstatic at my first idea, and we bounced ideas off one another for the other side. Finally, I came up with something, and since she was busy with school and work and I was taking the semester off before going to grad school, I volunteered to shoulder most of the work.

Not that I minded: it's actually a lot of fun to get my hands all covered in paint sometimes.

I stained one side of the paddle with wood stain, then flipped it over to work on the side that actually needed painting. This was the side my twin and I were most excited about: it was inspired by the car from one of our favorite TV shows, "Supernatural." I started by painting the handle black, the same color as the '67 Chevy Impala in the show...

Then I carved our initials in the handle, just like the main characters carved their initials into the car when they were kids...

Then I recreated the license plate (this was the hardest to do. License plates are surprisingly detailed!)...

I had to use the Kansas plates for two reasons: 1. Kansas is so heavily associated with the show that it would feel weird to do anything else, and 2. we're U of M students. We live in Michigan. Using the Ohio plates would just be wrong.

Painted on the symbols found on the underside of the Impala's trunk...

And finished it off with one of the most iconic quotes of the show.

Because even though we're not related by blood, we are family. (I did leave off the "boy" though--it didn't really seem relevant in a sorority.)

It turned out amazing. Honestly, I didn't even start the other side of the paddle right away: I just marveled at it for a bit. LOOK AT THIS:

We knew Kaleigh was going to love it.

For the other side, we decided to appeal to Kaleigh's love of country music and her history of doing dance, so I borrowed a quote from one of the country songs I know that isn't about a cheating spouse and tried my best to mimic a western-looking font. My twin and I decided to decorate the handle with the animals that we most identify with: a dolphin for Kaleigh, an owl for me, and a turtle for her.

Because of our history of putting bows on paddles (and the ribbons on ballet slippers), I tied some pink ribbons together and affixed them to the paddle just above the ballet slippers, as though they were the ribbons of the slippers tied together.

Considering that neither of us knew what we were going to do for this side, I'd say it looks pretty darn good.

We'll give this to her during her last meeting. There will be tears and hugging and lots of tissues. I can't wait to see how she reacts. Even though this might be the last thing I officially do for Kaleigh as her Little while either of us is active in the chapter, the Big/Little bond is something that doesn't end with graduation, and I hope this paddle reminds her of how much she means to me.