Initiation

When I was in college, I decided to pledge a sorority to help me meet more people on campus. I went through rush, visited all of the houses, put down my preferences, and waited for a bid. To my joy, I received a bid from the house I wanted to join and began the pledging process. This consisted of one semester where I learned about the sorority, performed menial jobs for the sisters (such as phone duty or hashing), and basically got to know all of the girls that I would soon be calling my "sisters." I survived pledging and after 3 months, I was initiated into the sorority. From then on I was considered a true Alpha Gam and was expected to pull my weight as a sister. I did for three years, and I still keep in touch with many of my sorority sisters.

Last week, Elizabeth, Mike and I all came down with the stomach flu. It started with Elizabeth vomitting all over the couch and newly cleaned carpets in the living room. She then threw up every half hour from 7 pm until 2 am. Being new parents, Mike and I didn't realize until about Throw Up #3 that we had to physically get Elizabeth to the trashcan or toilet since she didn't know how to do this. It was an extremely messy night in which we must have gone through 8 sets of sheets, 4 pairs of pajamas, and what seemed like a million towels. I slept on the side of her bed, waiting for the signs that she was about to vomit, and then quickly would lift her up to the side where the trashcan was. It was a vicious night, and as I watched my little girl go through such horrible pain, I just prayed and prayed that the vomitting would stop and that she would be able to get some rest for her little worn out body.

The next day, I told Mike that we had now been initiated as parents. The last 20 months we been learning about Elizabeth and how to parent her best, getting to know her and her quirks, and performing menial tasks such as changing her diaper and giving her a bath. Basically, we were pledging the fraternity of parenthood. But after that night, I felt we now understood what it meant to be a parent. We survived the yucky stuff, took care of our daughter, and now we can truly call ourselves parents. I'm sure everyone has their "initiation" into parenthood at some point. Some come early on in a child's life; some come later. And I'm sure there are several "initiation" moments that are awaiting me in the future. I just hope they don't all include "holding her hair back."