Along with 4,811 other Aggies and their families, I was pretty excited to finally get my own little piece of gold Friday. I felt like I’m sure many of them felt — like we’d been waiting ages for this day.
7:45 p.m. sharp. That was my designated time — the time I readily told everyone for the past week. My parents made the trek from San Antonio and I spent most of Friday after class getting ready. I got a new haircut, manicured my nails and bought a new outfit.
By then it was only about two hours until I went to go pick up my ring. I was just about to lie down for a nap before all the excitement when my phone buzzed. I looked over at my phone to see my friend’s text, telling me Ring Day had been cancelled. I was sure it was some sort of prank. A moment later she sent me a snapshot of the association of Former Students’ Twitter feed, giving updates about Ring Day being cancelled.
Still in doubt, I called the Association. They told me it had, in fact, been cancelled due to lightning strikes in the area. Panicked, I asked about how I was supposed to get my ring now, to which the representative replied they were working on some sort of makeup-pickup plan for Saturday. I hung up, disappointed.
Here is a day all Aggies anticipate, to which parents come in town for, cancelled. My dad had only come up for the day and had to return to work Saturday; he was driving home that night, which meant he didn’t get to see me get my ring. 
A phone call to my parents was met with confusion and disappointment as well as 15 minutes of my dad asking why the ceremonies couldn’t be moved to Reed Arena, or another indoor facility. 
The association’s Twitter feed blew up. Parents were calling the decision “ridiculous” and demanding something be “figured out.” The Association gracefully reassured people it was a decision made with safety in mind, and there were multiple methods for picking up the ring still available.
After the initial shock of the situation wore off, I realized, like all other disappointed Ags, “Hey, we were still all getting our rings, just after waiting an extra day.” My family decided to go to dinner anyway to celebrate. After several “Aggie jokes” from my Longhorn dad, a lot of cake and laughter, I came to realize although the ring is nice, it’s what it represents that matters more.
It represents having made it 90 hours through college. It represents having survived those all-nighters, 20-page papers, lab reports and other challenges unique to surviving at Texas A&M. 
Celebrating with my family, I realized the most important thing was having them there because they were happy for me and proud of me. And waiting an extra day with the other 1,200 Aggies just made it that much sweeter when I finally got my ring Saturday morning.  
Lindsey Gawlik is a telecommunication media studies junior and news 
editor for The Battalion.