….It’s A Man, Baby!

I grew up in the small town of Zachary, Louisiana, knowing everyone. I went to school with the same people I saw at the grocery store and the gas station. I chose Southeastern because I wanted to distance myself from the small town folk I knew, but still be close enough to visit my family. However, once I arrived at my dorm on the first day and my family drove away, I realized I was alone. I had two high school friends that were living on campus, but I knew we were not going to see each other as much and I wanted to be a part of a campus organization that was religious and outgoing. After class on my first day, I opened the door of the SELU Wesley. Since then, I have made multiple friends at and through the SELU Wesley and have had numerous fun experiences with them from tubing on the Tchefuncte River to dressing up as guys’ at church dinners…yeah, that’s right.

Last semester, there was a men’s dinner at one of our partner churches. There was one catch; only men could attend. (It was an evening gear toward men, so nothing weird about that). This didn’t stop our pastor, Sam, from inviting us ladies at the SELU Wesley. Some of us decided to attend the dinner, but unlike Same we decided to respect the rules of the event and attend the dinner in another way. We thought since it was a men’s dinner, we should be men. So…we put up our hair underneath hats, put on baggy flannel shirts and wore our sneakers…to a men’s dinner…cuz we were MEN!!! When we walked into the gym, no one questioned us (which was slightly disconcerting) and we had a nice dinner and listened to a great speaker. We did have some strange looks, but the guys who knew us thought it was hilarious. Overall, it was a funny night.

The friends I have met here have definitely become my family. Who else could have easily wanted to masquerade as a guy? My Wesley friends. They are always up to do something out of the box. I could not have asked God for a better group of friends to experience the trials of life with.

~Ashley~