Facebook. What it is good for.

Besides allowing you to voyeuristically sneak a peek at how all your ex-boyfriends and old crushes are managing now that they have to somehow persist without you in their lives, Facebook is also bringing people together… in the real world.

I’ve had my own mini-reunions with dear college classmates, but this past weekend was the biggest organized reunion I never thought possible: a decade of Deltas, Tri-Delta sisters from Arizona State University all descended upon Scottsdale, AZ after 20 or so years apart. All together, roughly 100 women from across the country came together for some old-fashioned sisterhood bonding time.

These are women I’ve shared dorm rooms with no bigger than some people’s closets, as well as clothes, notes, answering machines, hotpots, secrets and many an all-nighter. Memories with each and every one of my sisters is as precious as the diploma I earned after four of the craziest years of my life.

The fun began while checking into our rooms at the Scottsdale Conference Resort, when one after another, we encountered familiar faces and hugs ensued while the poor desk clerks were just trying to get our credit cards and home addresses. For many of us, all we had seen of each other in 20 years were our pictures on Facebook. We had all moved on with our lives, with careers, husbands, bills and babies, but at that moment, it was like no time had passed at all and we were headed back to our Chapter room to gather for a social at a local establishment in Tempe.

Our destination for the first evening, the resort lounge, Sangria’s for Happy Hour.

The next evening we did a trolley tour of Tempe to see what remained in actual brick and mortar of our memories. The sad state of Alpha Drive, or “New Row” as we called it, and Palo Verde Main which once housed all the sororities was enough to make us all pine for the days when Fraternities and Sororities once ruled ASU campus. With only three fraternity houses still standing, Alpha Drive is but a shell of its’ once virile days of Rush parties with lines of young collegiates down the street waiting to get in and partake of Jello shots, Jungle Juice and Coors Light. Palo Verde Main is now a co-ed dorm, like the rest.

Bandersnatch, MinderBinders, The Dash, Surprises, Club Rio, all gone. But, one old friend still survives: The Vine. Of course, it was our first stop on the tour for a refresher course on College Refreshments 101.

Followed by dinner at Gordon Biersch on Mill Ave.

And ending with a night of dancing at Flicka’s Bar & Grill where Flicka himself treated us to his namesake special drinks!

After only a few hours of sleep for some of us, we met for brunch at the resort to say our goodbyes.

But, just as it seemed no time had passed between us, and everyone looked the same (or even better) as when we last saw them, it was clear that this would not be the last time we would all meet. Facebook has brought us together for life and we wonder what we would all do without it.