I’m getting married Friday.
Okay, not really, but I will be participating in a ceremony with is a ring involved and I’m feeling anxious and excited at the same time, which is how I’m told you feel on your wedding day. I guess you can say it’s the Aggie tradition equivalence of a wedding day.
It’s Ring Day.
Three years of waiting in expectation for this moment, and to be perfectly honest I’m not sure how I am supposed to feel.
My mom and aunt attended Texas A&M and I have seen the effect that comes from wearing the Aggie Ring. They say you will be recognized for your Aggie Ring, which is very true.
I specifically remember one such instance at Schlitterbahn with my aunt. We were in line for one of the tube shoots, and the man behind us noticed my aunt’s class ring, which she had decided to leave on for the day.
Cue a 15-minute conversation about Aggieland. They talked about what organizations they had been a part of, what they thought of the football team and other terminology that, at the time, I couldn’t keep up with. In that moment, they sounded like long lost friends, rather than two strangers who just happened to attend the same university — a university that is attended by tens of thousands of students every year.
That was my glimpse into understanding that the ring symbolizes more than just the successful completion of 90 credit hours. Today, I understand even more of what it means.
The ring is a connection, my own little piece of Aggieland that I get to carry with me when I leave. Whenever I find myself missing campus life after graduation, I can just look at the ring and remember those years. I know that sounds sappy. Sue me. This is my one day to be sappy.
And in some ways, it is a marriage. As Aggies, we take a vow to stand behind our school, in good times and in bad. We will be tested, but like any relationship, you have to work to make it successful.
Of course I’m nervous. Anyone who isn’t a bit when receiving their ring is lying to himself or herself. After the ring, there is only one more thing that we receive as undergraduates — our diplomas. Graduation day suddenly feels so much closer, the day when we are metaphorically (or perhaps literally) kicked out of the house once again with parting smiles and words of good luck.
And then, you enter the real world. No going back.
So hold on to the connection that A&M gives, that small piece of gold that carries the weight of a university. I know a year from now, five years from now, even 40 years from now, I can look at my ring and remember so much — the laughs, the friends, the frantic late nights studying. And I will smile.
To those of you receiving your Aggie Rings Friday, I’ll be right there with you.
Thanks and gig ’em.