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Gamma Epsilon Reunion

March 10th, 2020
Filed Under: Alumnae News

by Ann R. Miller Albin, Gamma Epsilon – Purdue University


I have wondered for some time. Years. Decades, if I’m honest.

Long gone are the days of rush, phone duty, and TGIFriday afternoons. Rarely any more do I hit the snooze 17 times, stay up until 3… 4… or sleep in sweats and a sweet hoodie in the all-encompassing, freezing-but-awesome, cold air dorm.

I’ve grown. I’ve changed. Will they know me?

As the Gamma Epsilon chapter proudly gathered at Purdue this winter after so many years, I wondered…

Will they know me?

Oh, my.

One by one we walked into the initial gathering. The refrains were loud and awesome and poignantly clear…

“You’re here!”

“OMG!” “I’m so happy to see you!”

“I can’t believe it… it’s you!”

“Really? Really? After all this time??”

And just like that, any pretense dissolved, the past was celebrated, and the present became a most beautiful moment in time.

To be clear, a single editorial, Adelphean article, or opinion is incapable of covering all we felt and experienced in a most thoughtfully planned three days. There was fun, frolic, and Big Ten football. There was storytelling, remembrance, and a few (or more) most timely toasts.

But no doubt what was most beautiful was what is arguably hardest to describe…

After all these years — yes, decades — I realized something…

Despite the knowing then and the unintentional years of absence in one another’s lives, through the stories and remembrance there was a clear understanding that whatever we had been through, however we have grown, there exists a love and acceptance for who we are now.

In other words, we are still known.

After all these years, we are known.

What a gift and a treasure it is to be known. To be loved and accepted. I get it… we don’t know all the ins and outs and all the specifics of what has transpired in the last many years. We knew each other then. We still know each other now.

What a wonderful reunion. Here’s to all that continues to be good and right and true…



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