Wednesday, March 8, 2017

A Weekend for the Dads

Texas Zeta Dad’s Weekend was nothing short of entertaining. The weekend of February 10th, dads came from across the country to get a glimpse into what these sorority bills actually pay for. Luckily, not one dad seemed disappointed. All walked away with a smile on their face after a weekend well spent with their little girl.

For me, Dad’s Weekend had a bit of a different perspective. I, along with my big, Hailey, was in charge of planning the weekend. Plenty of brainstorming went into finally deciding what the agenda was. We initially thought a casino night would be fun. We then contemplated bringing in a vendor to do a ‘family feud’ style game. We even thought about getting tickets to a local sporting event. However, after many conversations with our advisors as well as some polling of girls in our pledge classes, we thought bringing out the dad’s competitive spirit through putt putt golf and some country line dancing sounded like a great time. As the weekend neared with the agenda concretely set, the pressure was on. Trying to make sure things went smoothly, while still making sure my dad had a good time was a bit of a stressful task, but thanks to such an awesome partner, a great executive council, and such great vendors, everything was seamless.

Dads arrived Friday afternoon “ready to party,” according to my dad. From five to eight at night, girls went in small groups with their dads to Peter Pan mini golf for a (way too competitive) game of putt putt. The group I golfed with barely finished the first hole before the dads were ripping each other’s golf abilities, laughing like they are all old college friends. Girls then had Friday night and the majority of the day on Saturday to explore Austin with their dads - my dad and I went to Hula Hut, a Tex-Mex must, on Friday night, then spend Saturday afternoon at my roommate’s lacrosse game.

Saturday night was the big event: Zeta Dad’s Night at Rebel’s Saloon. My friends and I took our dads to Chinatown before, where they all had a little more fun than we anticipated. All of the dads laughed and shared stories, leaving possibly closer than my friends and I even are. Once we got to Rebel’s Saloon, the night was in full swing. The line dance instructors were leading the crowd in some popular country dances, while some people chowed down on the pulled pork sliders. The real fun came when the first brave dad got on the mechanical bull. Riding the bull became almost a masculinity competition; as one dad saw another dad get on the bull, he felt like he had to try it, and then another dad just had to try it, then another and another until all of the dads were surrounding the bull trashing each other, trying to see who could stay on the longest.

When Sunday morning came, my dad told me that this weekend was the most fun he’s had in a long time, and I’m sure many other dads could say the same. Waving bye to my dad as he hobbled over to his car, bruised from his many attempts to stay on the bull, may have been one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. So thankful to have such a fun loving dad and so thankful to be a Texas Zeta.

ZLAM!

Caity Callan, PC 16

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