Until the advent of social media, staying connected to the people who mattered in our lives took effort. Calling on the phone, visiting in person, or writing notes and letters usually required planning and doing.
I love to talk about Grace Goodhue Coolidge’s Round Robin letters, the ones she wrote with the Pi Phis who attended the 1915 Convention in California together. The letters lasted until the end of their lives. They told of everyday events in their lives. They shared recipes, books read, the ups and downs of life and in the process stayed connected even though they lived in different places.
This fall, the Wall Street Journal published an article about a group of Iowa State Gamma Phi Betas who vowed to stay connected. And that they have!
Jenna Bush, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Hoda Kotb, Delta Delta Delta, interviewed the women on the Today show this week. (Many of us wish they would have mentioned their own affiliations, but perhaps they did and it was cut from the final version.) The women were surprised by a group of Gamma Phis who traveled to New York, paying their own ways, to surprise the alumnae of their chapter. I hope these young women make the decision to stay connected.
