Frat Life 101: The White Rose or Heartbreak Awaiting part 2

The second White Rose that I attended, well I guess I have to say I sort of attended it. For this one I chose not to risk the embarrassment of asking a young lady for a date only to not have her show up or contact me. Plus I didn't have any money for tickets. There were actually three of us who found ourselves in this situation so Tony, Gary and I stayed in Bert's room. We would come by the ballroom where the formal was being held every so often to see if the White Rose (the female who had done the most for us that year) had been serenaded yet because we wanted to participate in the ceremony. Once we had done that since the formal was about two thirds over just about everyone there told us to stay and not worry about the ticket issue. We tried to leave saying it wasn't right but they insisted and honestly I think we were happy to comply. It did cause a bit of friction and perhaps a few hard feelings afterwards for a few people but in reality we didn't plan for that to happen and meant on harm. In the end it was about brotherhood and being together.


The third and final White Rose for me was in 1986 and this time I had a date who actually came with me. That way there wouldn't be any mysterious circumstances or any garbage like that. She was a friend from the Northeastern Activities Board named Micah. She seemed nice, was friendly and I didn't feel that she was completely out of my league like I did with Leah. For some reason however once we got there she barely paid any attention to me whatsoever and that led me to decide to return the favor. Once again I was avoiding talking to her and sharing my feelings which could have cleared things up quickly. I decided that I would have a good time with my friends no matter what my date did or did not do and so I moved forward with that plan. The famed "walk of the dwarves" even made an appearance or two that night.

All was reasonably well until the last song of the night. As we customarily danced on the tables during the last song everyone started jumping off of them and I followed suit (doing my best Eddie Van Halen imitation) which left her as the only person still on the table. Did I forget to mention that these tables had one, broad leg in the center? As soon as I jumped off the table it flipped over unceremoniously dumping her on the ground while I danced on oblivious to the damage that I had unintentionally created. I think she must have thought that I'd done it on purpose but I hadn't. It was just that I had really stopped making the effort of paying attention to her since I felt she had been ignoring me. More than likely I had taken her treatment of me completely wrong (I have been called overly sensitive in my life) and had mistakenly made a mountain out of a molehill. We didn't talk a great deal that night or the next day but we did remain friends afterwards.


here you have it. Three White Roses and not so much as a kiss on the cheek goodnight. One had ended sad and lonely with no date. Another ended happy to have been with friends for at least part of the night. The last ended with a date seemingly in name only. Although I couldn't see it at the time there was a pattern repeating itself over and over in my life as far as saying what I felt and it would continue to do so. Story of my life.

Published by Don Leach