I don't often cross post, but this deserved to be here more than anywhere else, and I didn't see a proper thread to put it on. Lucci has the players thread on the FB board, and there are various remembrance threads elsewhere, but other than Tim's thread, there aren't many "how did you feel on/after 11/19/99" or "What silver lining in your life can you attribute to the 12" threads here...
I grew up in Aggieland.
Bonfire was a part of life... Like walking, rain, sunlight, blinking, and dinner. Things you never think much of until they are gone.
As a kid I was always impressed with Bonfire. The size, the work, the heat, the sounds. Grodes on the balcony rails and hanging out of windows, the lights that kept work going all night in November, in later years watching that poor JRP circling and circling and circling... And circling on channel 20. Watching everything happen so slowly that it seemed like nothing ever happened, until you came back after school/work and it had swollen just a bit more.
I remember waking up to a somber voice on the radio where music should have been. At first it wasn't much, just a carbon copy of 1994, but then they started telling people what was needed, where not to go in order to stay out of the way, and to not make any phone calls that weren't necessary because the circuits were overloaded and couldn't handle the traffic.
I also remember the first time we drove by and stack was down. Looked similar to 1997 when only one side burned and the remains smoldered well past Christmas. Which brought to mind images of the children crawling on the dark side of the pile and my parents talking about what could happen if the smoldering caused the logs to shift...
I miss campus Bonfire. I miss it like I'd miss the sun after twilight north of the Arctic Circle. For years I stayed skeptical of the Unity Project, and Aggie Student Bonfire. I always went though (and eventually joined and became leadership) and that trio of piles that burned at Soggy Bottom in '02 was a gorgeous sight. When the flames were put out in '05 I took it personally, and when it roared in '06 I knew I'd given everything I could voluntarily give to tradition.
My best friend and Fish Buddy was a JRP the year I was Brown, and I know he saw the memories in my eyes. We learned to swing together, watched the sun come up from 4th stack on a chilly morning, and lived Bonfire for the better part of our undergraduate lives. I've read the stories about folks watching the Reds buckle down and lead while their friends were unaccounted for or passed, and while impressive, I've also seen guys who I knew could do the exact same thing without blinking if needed... I'd like to believe I'd be one of those, but I'm thankful (very thankful) that I never found out.
Had '99 not gone how it did, who knows what would have been different. Sometimes I think those 12 Aggies made me the Aggie I am today... And I'm greatful.
I grew up in Aggieland.
Bonfire was a part of life... Like walking, rain, sunlight, blinking, and dinner. Things you never think much of until they are gone.
As a kid I was always impressed with Bonfire. The size, the work, the heat, the sounds. Grodes on the balcony rails and hanging out of windows, the lights that kept work going all night in November, in later years watching that poor JRP circling and circling and circling... And circling on channel 20. Watching everything happen so slowly that it seemed like nothing ever happened, until you came back after school/work and it had swollen just a bit more.
I remember waking up to a somber voice on the radio where music should have been. At first it wasn't much, just a carbon copy of 1994, but then they started telling people what was needed, where not to go in order to stay out of the way, and to not make any phone calls that weren't necessary because the circuits were overloaded and couldn't handle the traffic.
I also remember the first time we drove by and stack was down. Looked similar to 1997 when only one side burned and the remains smoldered well past Christmas. Which brought to mind images of the children crawling on the dark side of the pile and my parents talking about what could happen if the smoldering caused the logs to shift...
I miss campus Bonfire. I miss it like I'd miss the sun after twilight north of the Arctic Circle. For years I stayed skeptical of the Unity Project, and Aggie Student Bonfire. I always went though (and eventually joined and became leadership) and that trio of piles that burned at Soggy Bottom in '02 was a gorgeous sight. When the flames were put out in '05 I took it personally, and when it roared in '06 I knew I'd given everything I could voluntarily give to tradition.
My best friend and Fish Buddy was a JRP the year I was Brown, and I know he saw the memories in my eyes. We learned to swing together, watched the sun come up from 4th stack on a chilly morning, and lived Bonfire for the better part of our undergraduate lives. I've read the stories about folks watching the Reds buckle down and lead while their friends were unaccounted for or passed, and while impressive, I've also seen guys who I knew could do the exact same thing without blinking if needed... I'd like to believe I'd be one of those, but I'm thankful (very thankful) that I never found out.
Had '99 not gone how it did, who knows what would have been different. Sometimes I think those 12 Aggies made me the Aggie I am today... And I'm greatful.
