Midnight Yell Practice

Tonight, for the first time since I graduated from Texas A&M, I attended Midnight Yell Practice. I was overwhelmed with memories, good and not-so-good, but mostly good of my times there at A&M. And I found myself longing for those days of not just going to school, but "The Other Education" at A&M. One thing's for sure, I felt as young as the students standing by us, as if I hadn't aged one bit. That's the beauty of any college experience and going back--infects you with your youth ALL OVER AGAIN.

For you fellow Aggies, you may remember these things. For those of you who are not Aggies, take a walk with me, and I'll point you in the right direction. ;-)

• depending upon where you lived (on or off campus), the hike to get to Kyle field could seem like a few feet, miles, or hours
• there are BATS...yes BATS underneath the upper decks...does anyone remember that?? (my husband watched one...ummm...go to the "restroom" on someone tonight....not pretty)
• does anyone remember corps members walking on the track in front of everyone with wooden signs painted with "I need a date"????? And then actually GETTING a date with girls in the bleachers???
• what about the "drunken bleachers"?? I completely forgot about how the bleachers sway and rock back and forth. How did we EVER STAND THAT when we were in school?? My husband's comment to that was, "I bet if we'd had beers before coming here, we'd probably be able to stand up straight with no swaying whatsoever."
• and there are these "half-like chair seat thingys" that are somehow bolted to the bleachers now; there seems to be no rhyme or reason to them, either, and they're on the student side, too! They have no cushiony seat (not any of the ones I saw) but they have a cusiony back rest. What is UP with THAT?
  
• Parents' Weekend--I completely forgot about Parents' Weekend, and that they choose a "Parents of the Year". The couple (click here to read more about them) were so cool when they talked, and what they talked about brought a tear to my eye. She (Class of '75) and he (class of '77) have five...THAT'S FIVE...sons who are all Aggies, four of whom are all at A&M right now. Can you imagine????? Anyway, I'll talk more about tradition, which is what he talked about when he finally wrestled the microphone away from his wife in a playful way. She was great; apparently, they have so many functions at their home in Bryan for their sons and the various organizations they are involved in with school. When he spoke, he talked mainly about tradition, that he expected that the same Midnight Yell Practice would be around in another 20 years, that the beauty of tradition is its consistency. Therein likes the new mantra of Texas A&M: "It's home." And I have to say, that's EXACTLY how I felt after having been gone since 1993 when I graduated (even though I'm class of '91).
• There is no more Mt. Aggie...or was it Aggie Mountain. I did see where I think they MIGHT have moved it, wihch is over near Olsen Field, the baseball field.
• There are now parking lots where there used to be none and buildings where nothing but grass was.
• Does anyone remember where Bonfire USED to be off of what is now George Bush Drive?
• do you remember the Aggie Marching Band marching into Kyle Field before Midnight Yell Practice? SO VERY AWESOME to hear that.
• there was one thing that Freshmen did whenever their class year was called out or the word "Freshmen" or "Fish" was called out, and I had NO clue what that was
• there's also the "Whoop!" that gets shouted anytime anyone says "fightin' Texas Aggie (fill in the blank)"; I don't remember doing that
• The Freshman had a yell (or something) that was all their own

What amazed me more than anything that night was truly the feeling of home. Sure there were a couple of yells I did not remember all the words to, but I remembered almost all of them. One thing I will NEVER forget is "The Spirit of Aggieland" and how I felt singing that for the first time at my first Midnight Yell since graduating 15 years ago. It literally brought tears to my eyes. It gave me the feeling of unity once again, of belonging to a larger nucleus of those who understand what it's like to experience Aggieland firsthand as a student.

-s-