RECONNECTING ON THE ROAD

The following post was written by guest blogger Betsy Watson, Theta Omicron–Western Carolina University.

After graduation, we embark on a journey into the real world full of hopes and dreams, but—as we step farther and farther away from our time as collegiate members of Alpha Gam—it becomes difficult to maintain friendships. Life happens and time creates distance. Before we know it, we’ve all grown up, but we’ve also grown apart.

Over the last few years, I’ve been lucky enough to have a global career cultivating public relations activities which has taken me to all parts of the world for business travel. As exciting as it was at first, I quickly realized my schedule was quite draining and isolating. So, I decided to use my access to free airfare to reconnect with Alpha Gams.

I reached out to sisters I hadn’t spoken to in years and I noticed a common phrase in our conversations: “I really wanted to call, but I didn’t know if it had been too long or if it would be weird.”

No. It’s not been too long. It’s not weird. It’s wonderful!

My Big Sis, Sam Saunders-Consroe, who I reconnected with in Washington, D.C., said it best: “You can make great new friends, but you can’t make old friends.”

Sometimes while visiting sisters in their home city, I get a little nervous and Sam’s words echo in my head. I’ve connected with so many sisters in their hometowns—and even a sister while she was on vacation! We just happened to both be in the same place at the same time, so we made the worthwhile effort to reconnect.

After catching up over dinner or sight-seeing, we’ve made sure to keep up with one another using snail mail, occasional texts and social media. Sharing smiles again is a great feeling and being able to reestablish connections with those who knew you when you were developing your “life dreams” is so rewarding. Now, I get to live my “life dreams” with my sisters!