🎶Feels like home to me…

“…here in ZTA. It feels like I’m all the way back where I come from.”🎶 After living in three different places over four years at UNC, and none of them in the Zeta house, I can still say that 120 North Street truly feels like my Chapel Hill home. I never thought I would be the type to cry on Pref Night. But when my sisters sang our Pref song I couldn’t hold back the tears. It truly did feel like home: there in the Zeta dining room, the walls covered in white sheets, all of us in black dresses, surrounded by my best friends as well as girls who would support me in any hour of need, no matter how close we were. Home is a simple term meaning where you live. There is also plenty of “Home is where the heart it” merchandise living on walls in suburban homes preaching that home is more of a feeling. To me home is both of those things. I have loved my time physically sitting down in our beautiful house with my amazing sisters.

🎶Now I’m All Right, ‘Cause I have You Here With Me…

“My heart beats fast, I hope this feeling lasts, the rest of my life.”🎶 It’s what I love and miss the most in this time of isolation: the in-person sisterhood. Allie Cauley reached out to me and took me in when I was new and scared. I could drive to Grace Taylor’s house at any time of day, knock on the door and she would open it wide and invite me in. I could be struggling with something that I haven’t told Courtney Pope, but the second she finds out I’ll have a text from her reminding me what I can handle, and if I feel like I can’t; she’ll be there to help me. I can call or text Ally Washington and she’ll always make time out of her insane schedule to see me; whether it’s silently doing work, talking about our week, or just walking to our different obligations together to spend some quality time. My day is brightened every time I see Amber Richards because she always has hilarious news, a story or recent adventure to share and make me smile. There are so many more girls that light up my life, like Madeline Gossett, the grand-little that makes me a proud matriarch and Rhyan Given, the best bid day buddy there ever was. These girls are my sisters and I miss them so much. I miss being bunched together in the dining room for chapter or jumping in and hugging together for a picture. Having my sisters there with me through it all was amazing.

🎶If you knew how much this moment means to me…

“…and the hope of sisterhood to be.”🎶 Every moment becomes a memory instantly. We live in a digital time (especially now, doing everything from home and online) where my generation grew up with tech like iPods and cell phones. We’re constantly taking pictures and videos; either to post and build up our social media or simply to have that image to remember our lives by. I am definitely one of those people, whose photos app takes up half of the storage on my laptop’s hard drive. *See the video below as proof* But what’s amazing about those pictures is that, they spark memories of the moments that day that aren’t on film. I remember comments and jokes at lunch or dinner when I was laughing too hard to think about taking a video. I think about the tender hugs on the front porch that weren’t caught on camera. I remember running into people in the TV lounge, the parlor, the sun porch or the hallway and losing track of time talking, not even taking my phone out of my pocket. Along with all the pictures dressed up in fun themes and fancy dresses with my gorgeous friends, the personal memories are the ones that I will carry with me forever.

🎶Feels Like I’m All the Way Back Where I Belong.🎶

Belonging is one of the easiest and hardest concepts in life. We crave that sense of community as social creatures but often judge and exclude others. That’s just part of being human. The important thing is to be persistent. To keep reaching out to people until you do find the people that meet you, accept you, include you, support you, appreciate you, help you and love you. Because it will happen, and once it does it feels pretty easy. They will choose you and you will choose them and it will be amazing.

This post is dedicated to the “Woke Queens of ZTA.” Remember zisters…

Only The Best Get Crowned👑Love: the greatest of all things❤️ZLAM