Transitions

There comes a time in everyones life where they must go through a transition. Whether it be going from high school to college, being apart from home for your first time at summer camp, or your transition into independence the day you receive your drivers license. Whatever it is, we’ve all been there, you all know what I’m talking about.

Transitions seem to always overcome with me with a bittersweet feeling- a feeling mixed with anxiety and excitement, butterflies in my stomach and sweat in the palms of my hand. However, this feeling is one that I experience when I feel particularly emotional about the transition that I am embarking on.

This is why it came as a shock to me that I was filled with this overwhelmingly, bittersweet emotion at my sorority’s official “Executive Board Transitions,” held last night. The old executive board, comprised of me and 11 other juniors of my closest friends, welcomed in the sophomore pledgeclass of ’09-’10 executive board members who had been slated to their positions last week. Each outgoing e-board member spoke to their incoming sophomore position-holder, handing over binders with information and telling them about the specifics of what their new job entails.

At the end, my 11 friends and I spoke freely in a circle with all 24 girls- We passed on wisdom and advice, and any general knowledge we felt we wanted to share about what it means to be on e-board and to be the one’s in charge of the sorority. The overall message was something along the lines of: “trust each other and respect each other, you guys are a team and the future of this house depends on that.”

While I expected to walk out of that room feeling free and thrilled that I had one less obligation on my plate, I truly did feel sad. While the experience of being on e-board for my sorority often presented me with annoying commitments, a large time-investment, and being forced to care about things that I sometimes didn’t, I truly felt both accomplished for being one of the leaders of my house for the past year, and sad that I wasn’t any longer.