It's post-graduation. All of the old seniors are now alumnae, and in comes the new group of seniors to take their place in the chapter. The old girls. It's a population of the chapter that unavoidably happens. In past years, I've never seen the seniors as that much older than everyone else; rather, they were just a more apathetic group that also tended to cry at their "last events." It was never a big deal. Except now I'm one of them and #spoiler: it's terrifying.
I enter a point in my life as a collegiate chapter member that is confusing and strange; I'm getting way too close to entering the real world. I'm long past the cute, new member stage. I've passed up the middle, grey area where everyone just waddles around, gets a little or two, and chills. I'm not quite at the "you're too old to be here/why do you keep showing up at tailgates?" phase. I'm just the old girl in the chapter now; I've entered the geriatric unit. Most of my pledge class is gone, the real world is lurking around the corner, and I'm finally old enough to legally drink at socials. What is life?
If you're still in denial, if you've decided to take an extra college lap because you're scared of leaving, or if you're crying in the corner because college is almost over: this goes out to you. I'm in the same boat. But, rather than wallow and get all sentimental on everyone, I've compiled some signs just to confirm that, yes, you are now one of the old girls.
Ways to recognize that you are now an "old girl" include actually knowing who that random alumnae is that came to the Christmas party (and that all of the freshmen are asking about) because, believe it or not, the two of you were in the chapter together. Weird.
Another way to acknowledge that you've reached senior status is the internal debate on whether or not to order that date party t-shirt. It is your last date party, so you should get it for the memories. The design is really cute, so you should order it because you'll still wear it after you graduate. But you already have a shirt that color from your freshman year a million years ago and you realize that you don't feel sentimental value toward t-shirts anymore (i.e., you've come to accept that you're never actually going to make one of those t-shirt blankets because no one has time for that).
How many t-shirts is too many? The limit does not exist.
Literally every complaint you hear from younger members goes in one ear and out the other. You've been on the E-board for two years now, and you've heard pretty much every petty complaint that you can bear to listen to. As an "old girl," you're now entitled to give them a #newsflash and explain that the broken Keurig is not the end of the world, because when you came in the chapter, the house didn't even have that cute coffee bar in the kitchen. With age comes wisdom, I suppose.
The last way to know for sure that you're an old girl is a little more straightforward: another addition to your family line will result in you having the word "great" tacked onto your title. You will become the great grand big (or even a great-great grand big). That's way past the point of being a sensible title. What are you going to do? What will this new addition call you? Is this how grandparents feel? Terrifying.
While we, as seniors, can't stay in college or in our sorority forever, it is important to remember to squeeze in as many good times and memories as we can into our last year. Good luck, and welcome to the old girls' club. We play bingo on Thursday evenings and knit scarves for our great-great grand littles.
(Just kidding. Live it up as much as you can while you can because soon it will be considered weird for you to come around as often as you do now.)
