Thanksgiving 2011

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We spent Thanksgiving in College Station with our every-other-year Aggie vs. t.u. game watching tradition.  I always get so excited on the drive down, and turning onto University drive practically gives me goosebumps every single time.  There is no other place on earth that feels like home more than Aggieland.  I'm seriously in love with everything about it.  We made it just in time for Yell, and the kids had a great time 'humping it'.  Grady really got into the FARMERS FIGHT!  I don't think I ever stopped smiling, even when my sappy eyes filled with their sappy tears when R.C. spoke, and the head yell leader choked up as he recited The Last Corps Trip.

It's always great fun to set up the tailgate and cook the entire feast out of the campers, and the kid had a great time with their cousins riding bikes, drawing on table cloths, listening to music, and just being together on such a Thankful holiday.  But, this year it was especially bitter sweet.  As of now, we just played the last Aggie vs. t.u. football game.  With us moving the the SEC, Texas has opted out of the rivalry game for the future.  I knew I would be sappy emotional about it, for no other reason than just the fun banter between the schools, but the gut-wrenching loss made it that much worse.  Grady and I dropped the ticket holders off at the game, made a round at the book store, and then took a stroll around campus.  I showed him a few of my favorite buildings, and we ended with a walk through the Quad.  Right now he's obsessed with the Corps.  As we walked past Kyle Field we heard the game begin and Grady asked if it was our turn to go to the game.  It wasn't-just not enough tickets to go around this time, but man, I never wanted to be at a football game more in my life.  He saw the other scalpers asking for tickets and thought he would try to "get two for him and his Mommy."  As we walked back to the trailer, Grady said he would be my date, but "he would drink milk, I could drink wine, and we'd save the beer for Daddy."  We bundled up, and settled in for the last rivalry game.  And, it had to be the most frustrating game I've ever watched in my entire life.  There's about a ten second delay from live action to satellite action, so I'd hear the yells from the field, and wait to see what happened.  If it was a big yell or a cannon, I knew the news was good, and if I was waiting for a big yell and didn't hear one, I knew the news was bad.  Every now and then I heard a smaller  yell and knew the t-sips had done well.  We looked good in the first half, but as typical for this season, lost it the 3rd quarter.  We pulled ahead for mere seconds in the 4th, but a few mishaps gave the t-sips the final say.  

I almost cried.

I wanted to win that game so badly.  I wanted the Ags to leave the Big 12 with something under their belt, and I hoped that with a win we could entice the Longhorns to keep the traditions and the rivalry going.  I know it was just a football game, and I've told myself that over and over.  I know I shouldn't get my feelings hurt over something so trivial, but I did.  It did hurt.  It hurt in person.  It hurt the tradition.  Heck, even the comments on Facebook stung a little too deeply, and were just a little too much for me to hear.  But, Gary woke up on Friday, walked outside and said, "The sun did come up after all."  So yes, the sun came up, and the world kept going, traditions and rivalry or not.  We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we, true to eachother as Aggies can be...

Despite the loss, we had a wonderful time with family.  The kids knew what they were thankful for:  their cousins, their Gran and PaPa, their Mommy and Daddy, and of course, the Aggies.  I'm thankful for all that and so much more.  God truly blessed us every one.