Thursday, August 21, 2008

Our Story, Part I

One day, I would like for my kids to know the story of how their parents met. And I'd like for it to be relatively clear to them, not muddled up in their minds (like the story of my parents is - they met under a beer garden table? Huh?). So my plan is to bore the heck out of the 9 blog readers I have, and write Our Story - in installments. Humor me, okay y'all? It's for my babies!

So... here we go!

I grew up in Georgia, in a suburb of Atlanta called Marietta. It's the Home of the Big Chicken. Yep. It's a "big chicken." Really. (We're pretty descriptive in the South.) Anyway... this is not My Story, is it? I'll try to move quickly onto the "Our" part, but you gotta have a little background to understand the "how."

I decided I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up, and work in TV news. So I went to the University of Missouri-Columbia, the best broadcast journalism school in the nation. Ahem. I had lived my whole life in Georgia (with the exception of my first 3 months or so), and heading off to school in Missouri without anyone nearby was both terrifying and exciting. I had no one to answer to but me. Yeehaw! Here's a photo of me and some of my "posse" (ha!) on the day I left for Mizzou:

I went through sorority rush, and pledged Alpha Omicron Pi. Those first few months were a blur for me, going a little wild spreading my wings and finding myself. I remember lots of parties, sorority date nights and meeting so many new people. About a month after school started, my sorority participated in the Phi Kappa Psi philanthropy event. A philanthropy event is the fundraiser for that sorority or fraternity's cause. (My sorority's cause is rheumatoid arthritis.) Each Greek philanthropy lasts about a week, during which there are silly events for raising money. The Phi Psi 500 required participating sororities to do things like an obstacle race, buy event t-shirts, perform serenades & skits, and decorate our sorority house. This is a photo I took of our house the week we did the Phi Psi 500:

When a sorority does a fraternity's philanthropy, they get two or three frat members assigned to them as their "coach" or liasion or whatever. When AOII (my sorority) did the "Phi Psi 500," we had three coaches assigned. One of them was this guy named Dan. I think he was only our coach in title, not in presence because he was busy that week with school work. So I didn't meet him until Friday night of that week, at a party on the Phi Psi house front lawn. This is where the "Our" part of the story starts.

Check back later for Part II.

5 comments:

Gretchen said...

My story is easier, we went to school together and knew each other forever. He was even our paper delivery boy. :)

Nate Hudson said...

Elizabeth,
It was so great to see a little bit about your life now. I can tell what an amazing mom you are and what awesome kids you have. Was that Jackson's wife you made the t-shirt for on your other website. It is amazing, but I can still remember their wedding. Patrick turns 24 tomorrow. Can you believe it?

Robin said...

Hmm, do I want to copy you and share how Mr. Geek and I met? Actually telling the kids we met under the beer garden table might be better.

The Benich Family said...

Hi Elizabeth,
I just saw your note on our blog. I obviously don't keep up with our "comments". I'll mention to Beau that you were in touch. I'm sure he remembers you. Nicci and Beau speak so fondly of their Somerset days. I truly think it was (or is??) the All-American neighborhood - just a great place to grow-up!
Keep in touch,
Kriya

scrappysue said...

we lived in atlanta (buckhead) for a year and a half back in the 1990s. i remember driving past the big chicken!!!

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