STAGE 1: You recieve the name of your bid day buddy, and you just don’t think it’s possible that you’ve ever loved a piece of paper that much in your life. You already know that Mary Jane Junior is going to be your little. I mean, come on – your names sound so perfect together. You get this tingling feeling just holding that sign with her name on it. You may as well start adding monograms to all of the canvases you’ve bought and created over the summer.
STAGE 2: Meeting the new girls is…well, a challenge for you. There isn’t a single hair out of line on any of them. Not a single one. Which one is “little” material when they’re all so perfect? What if, by some chance, your bid day buddy starts to think about…someone else as her big? How can she see anyone else being her big? You bonded so well. So, the panic sets in. Time to kick it up a notch. Reveal, here you come.
STAGE 3: Week three. Rumors have been floating around that Mary Jane Junior really enjoyed the night she vented to you, she needed that cry-on-a-shoulder moment. As it turns out, you really connected with her too. The best part is, your sorority sister knows something that you don’t; it’s time to get the details on just how much Mary Jane is obsessed with you. Because the obsession is so mutual. Facebook is your friend, Twitter is your friend…is that you in her Instagram profile picture?
STAGE 4: The Excel is out! Mary Jane Junior is your little. You just knew the stars would align. After calling every friend you have and your mother/grandmother/boyfriend to share the exciting news, you know what the next phase is. Time to mess with her mind. Game on.
STAGE 5: So you tell Ashley to tell Martha to tell Becca that she needs to tell Mary Jane Junior that you’re not her big. Genius, right? Oh! Or that Mary Jane Junior was skipped on the list, and she just isn’t getting a big this year. Better luck next year. Or, better yet, tell her that no one gets a big. Yes – that’s perfect. Totally believable.
STAGE 6: Your shopping spree has an extended budget…for the third time. For the third time, you have gone over said budget; but at least you’re the best big ever, right?
STAGE 7: Not being able to adequately comfort your confused little, who only wants you as her big, is torture. I mean, she put you as her preference, and the second preference…and the third. She also wrote in the comments that she would die without you. Where did she go wrong?
STAGE 8: Everything is coming together nicely – your little is hopelessly brokenhearted and in the dark, you’ve spent over $500 on things you’ll never see again, and you’ve also ruined your only Lamda Chi function shirt with red paint. Life is incredible. No sarcasm intended.
STAGE 9: Reveal is here, and you could not be more nervous/excited/exhausted. Not to mention, you and your little have the best corresponding costumes…but what if she can’t find you? Will you ever get a little? Will she find another big? What if she’s…disappointed? Wait – what are you saying to yourself? You’re fabulous.
STAGE 10: The good news? You both live Strattily Ever After.