I was overwhelmed when I became a Pi Kappa Alpha pledge at the University of Maryland in September 1988. Just a few months removed from high school, I was suddenly operating in an adult world.
One of the many decisions I had to make early on was choosing a Big Brother in the fraternity. I got to know some guys during rush and came up with my list of three potential Big Brothers.
Looking back now, I am really glad I got my top pick of the bunch… Hank.
We liked a lot of the same music and had a good vibe together, which translated into years of being good friends, getting into some mischief together, and staying in touch for decades.
While some of the Big and Little Brothers never quite connected during the semester, there were always some who had fun and spent lots of time together during the school years.
And then, during Hell Week, it was a really important move, because one of the work days, Hank kidnapped me and let me chill for an afternoon, instead of being hassled and doing thankless, and sometimes pointless, manual labor.
After college, in those pre-social media days, we fell out of touch for a while, but then reconnected on Facebook, or maybe it was Instagram.
Later in my college career, I was picked by a pledge named Jason to be his Big Brother. This was my final year of school, so we didn’t have as much time to hang out, but it was a lot of fun getting to know him.
I still have the Big Brother paddle that Jason made for me in the fall 1992 semester. It lost a letter over the years, but it’s still in good shape and fun to have a look at.
Jason and I crossed paths a couple or three times after graduation, but then we went our separate ways. I was in New York City two years after graduation, and later moved on to Austin, TX.
But then I was on LinkedIn last year, and I happened to look him up. I sent a message, but didn’t expect to hear back, because if he was anything like me, he didn’t really check LinkedIn messages, since they were mostly strangers promoting their businesses.
A few weeks later, I heard back from him, and he was living just 25 miles away from me. So, we made plans to meet up for lunch and caught up over some Tex-Mex. Just a couple of Maryland guys who knew each other in the 90s and then both made our way to the Texas Hill Country.
We plan to get together again soon.