11.18.99

I will never forget being woken up at 6 a.m. by the incessant ringing of our apartment phone.   My roommates and I were Juniors in college and we all worked at a local sandwich deli.   We were notorious for not making it in on time to work - our boss would schedule us for an hour earlier than he expected us to show up.   He knew good and well that three newly twenty-one year olds could not meet a 9 a.m. requirement so he would just start calling our house to wake us up about 30 minutes before we really needed to be there.   So, November 18th was no different - in my mind.   Our boss was calling to wake us up and we would ignore the first few calls.   Except this time, the phone never stopped ringing.   And this time it was a lot earlier than usual.   After about an hour, I finally snapped to and realized I needed to answer the phone.   It was my dad and hearing my voice brought tears to his eyes.   He went on to inform me that the Bonfire had collapsed and he knew I wouldn't be there but just had to make sure.   As I was talking to him, the phone beeped in - it was K's dad.   I woke her up and let her hear the same news - she too was interrupted by the phone ringing.  A's dad had been trying all morning long to make sure his daughter was safe as well.   The three of us got up from our hungover state and sat in the living room with the TV on and our jaws dropped - bawling.    I will never forget that day and the days to follow.  I will never forget how proud I was of the school I didn't realize I loved so much.

You see, I was what most people would call a two percenter.   I thought a lot of Texas A&M's traditions were silly and I was way too cool for them.   I would go to an occasional football game but the one thing I never missed was Bonfire.   It was the one Tradition that I loved.   Going out to that field with thousands and thousands of other people before the big Texas game, where every one was bundled together singing the Aggie War Hymn and doing yells - it was awesome.   In the three months before, you would drive by the entrance to campus and see the progression of the ginormous stack.  To say it was impressive does not even close to explain it.    The time and effort people put in to build that thing was beyond me but I was so glad they did it.   So in 1999, when it collapsed just days before it was to be lit, the school was shocked to see it fall.   I remember thinking at first - well it was 3 a.m. so surely there were only a few people out there and clearly they would not be hurt.  Wrong, oh so wrong.    My roommates and I had to go to work where the entire deli staff just stood in front of the TV the whole day.   One by one, the death toll increased and the news got harder and harder to hear but we were glued.  

K and I wanted to do something - help in some way so we went out to the sight.   There were people everywhere - you could not park within a mile of the campus.   The volunteers were incredible and we watched as student after student helped remove the wood from the fallen stack.   It was so amazing to see an entire compass come together like that.  

Just a few days later, when the Bonfire was supposed to burn - there was a candlelight vigil at the sight and I would venture to say over a hundred thousand people gathered to pay tribute to the 12 students that were killed.   We all walked in silence into Kyle Field where they were going to continue the tradition of having the yell practice.   After filling the stadium, the lights went on and there was not a dry eye in the place.   The next day was the big game and we were definitely not favored to win.   But, that football team played there heart out and upset our biggest rival.   Texas fans were amazingly gracious and their bands tribute at halftime was nothing less than spectacular.   I was so proud of my school and I don't remember ever feeling that before.

To this day, I think I love A&M more because of 11-18-99.   It's hard to explain what it was like to be there during that time, but I am so glad I was.   Yes, I still find some traditions silly and I totally understand why people say some of the things they do about Aggies.  But you can't say that the bond A&M has is not incredible.   I can't believe it was 12 years ago...