Dear Mary Louise Bennett, Hannah Jeannette Boyd, and Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity at large,

I need to extend my thanks to you. Never in a million years did I think I would owe so much to words exchanged on a wooden bridge circa 1870. Every day, I get to wake up looking forward to time spent with sisters who have chosen to love me for who I am. Later, I get to fall asleep knowing that I am a part of something much bigger, stronger and more meaningful than myself. Day in and day out, my life is filled with increasing purpose and value because of the organization you have grown to become. I am so proud to call myself your sister.

Because of a conversation between two influential women, I now share a bond with hundreds of thousands. Because you have etched into my heart the words "aspire to be," I know there is always something greater ahead. Because the world has been made a better place by your service and dedication, I know what it means to truly make a difference. Because I wear your golden key on my heart, I strive to open myself up to any and every opportunity to go farther. You have set a standard for those that have come before me and those that will come after me, and you ensure that there will always be good left in the world.

You have taught me that I don't always need to have it all together. There will be days when I feel like I can't ever catch a decent breath, and that is okay. When I am broken, I am lovely. When I am put together, I am lovely. Our value and sisterhood do not rely on perfection or false smiles. We are sisters when all we can manage to do is burrow into the couch and devour a bag of chocolate. We are sisters in the moment that he changes his mind all to fast and everything we thought we knew comes to a staggering halt. We are sisters in the great parts, when we dance to our favorite song with the volume on full blast even when we've played it 4 times in a row already. There is just something so beautiful about the endlessness of it all. Just last week, a sister stood up to share that in college, most try to find one person to spend the rest of their lives with, but she had found hundreds to spend hers with. You make forever possible.

The point is that without you everything would be different. The world, my sisters and especially me. The person I would have become having never been introduced to you is someone I'd never want to be now. I'm grateful for the owl, the key, the fleur de lis and everything beyond. I want to leave you with some of the words that made me love you most, written by Kim Kirscher ('70 Beta Delta Chapter):

"And Kappa is, I suppose, a kind of evolution. You grow up inside these elegant walls. And perhaps you do learn more of this grizzly, ungraceful circus we call life, than if you had lived it somewhere else. You learn that a football player is sometimes just shoulder pads and that skinny arms sometimes hide a nobel man. You learn that some lecture halls are just watery echoes and that there are silent rooms for your deeper rivers. You learn that no matter where you came from, or who took you there, you've still got to find that one small acre that belongs to you, by yourself. You learn that the world is made up of people you're not going to like, and that you live with them anyway. You learn to wait because change is slow, and change isn't always right. You learn that there's still a lot left to believe in and a whole lot more to hope for. You learn that love has never been easy and that it is a long time in coming. And if you're very smart, or very lucky, you learn that no matter how big or how messy the world becomes, what is precious and what is permanent is always the same. And in the very end, Kappa can only be a better way to stumble down the back steps, and walk gracefully out the front door."

Thank you for everything and more. I love you truly.

L&L,

Your sister.