Hey, Mamma Rock Me

So much excitement happened recently.

So much excitement! 

The most exciting thing would have to be the whole Bathtub Ring thing. I'm going to go ahead and steal Meredith College's description of what The Bathtub Ring is, if you don't mind.

"Three members of the Class of 1970—Betty King, Ayn Sullivan, and Peggy Timmerman—founded The Bathtub Ring singing group in the spring of 1968 and first performed for Phi Luau during Rush Week. Their blend of rebellion against and honoring of Meredith traditions has made The Bathtub Ring a perennial favorite at Cornhuskin’ and other campus events. Membership is by audition, and selections are made by The Bathtub Ring from students who are members of even-year classes." 

So there are 5 girls in BTR and they each become one of the 5 characters- Otis, Zeke, Rufus, Ralph and Ethel Sue.

I'm going to be Rufus, pretty much the coolest kid ever. I was told that Rufus is laid-back, so I'm thinking it won't be too difficult to "become Rufus".
We aren't "officially" BTR yet though, not until BTR 2012 graduates. So for now, we're called the Ring Around The Tub- or the RATTS of 2014.
Crazy.

So back up to auditions- I wasn't going to try out for it because I had so many doubts, so little faith in myself, and I was crazy intimidated by all of the other girls.
But Skye talked me into it, and I knew in my heart that if I didn't try out I would be really frustrated with never knowing how it would end up.
So I went to the practice on Tuesday with 15 or so other sophomores and we learned the parts to the BTR version of Rocky Top.
I was singing the song in my sleep, during class, at work- it was bad.

Then Thursday came, and I knew I needed to prepare a snippet of a solo song of my choice. So I decided to sing Hallelujah- the song that everyone has covered.
They started us off around 7pm with our solo songs, then we sang Rocky Top for about three hours until they finally let us go.
21 girls tried out, and that evening they cut us down to 10. Then around 11pm they sent us back to our rooms and said they would let us know if we made it or not by the end of the night.
I was expecting a phone call.

That's 2012 Rufus, in my room, letting me know that I made it.
I was not prepared.
That awful smile thing I have going on there- that's me being so excited and so shocked.

 

And then they put me in the hallway and told me not to talk. 

They told those other 2 girls the same thing- and I had no idea that they were there. 

So I stood in silence and darkness as they all walked away from me. 

 

We were finally allowed to take our blindfolds off, but only after walking across campus and singing together.
So that's us!

Then we had our big debut at Tea for Two- Meredith's mother/daughter tea for the sophomore class.
Lynda went with me, and I kept it a secret from her that I made BTR.

Hardest thing I've ever done!

Skye and I all dressed up together.

I had such a fun time! I missed mom a lot, but I'm glad that it worked out for Lynda to go with me.

Tea table

We got party favors

My hot date. We got some stares- we decided it was all of the mothers thinking to themselves "that woman looks way too young to be her mother- they must be sisters."

As soon as BTR 2012 walked up to the stage while singing Mountain Dew, Lynda turned to me and said, "You should totes be in that Caity- you could do that!"
At that point, I was so anxious and excited and nervous that all I could manage without giving it all away was a shaky, "mmhmm!"
I couldn't eat any of my brunch either. We had pancakes, bacon, eggs, potatoes, fruit, and desert and I had to FORCE myself to take bites.
So. Anxious.
But then 2012 called up the members of 2014 BTR and I looked at Lynda and said, "I didn't tell you..." as I slyly tied my bandana around my wrist and made my way to the stage.
I think she was surprised =)

There we are after our first performance!

2014 Bathtub Ring minus our Ralph. Instead of handing off the baton, 2012 handed off the Mountain Dew- because they sing a song called Mountain Dew.
We were pretty pumped.

And there we all are again!

There are videos circulating somewhere. If you have a facebook you can go to my timeline right HERE and see some videos that I was tagged in. If you don't have a facebook, then you really should get working on that.
Just kidding. But I have no idea where the videos would be found if not through facebook.

So yes, my weekend was filled with anxiety- the best kind- and so much excitement!
I can't wait until next year when we can finally start to have practices and do all the fun stuff that goes along with being in BTR.

Such a cool Meredith tradition and I'm honored to be a part of it!