Today is a day I have been waiting for for years.

At 2:45 p.m. I’ll get a giant chunk of gold to put on my right hand — my Aggie Ring.

Growing up in College Station, Texas A&M was constantly around me. Both of my parents graduated from A&M, and my dad is from here, too. 

I’ve lived in College Station my entire life, and I was entrenched in maroon and white from an early age.

When I was in elementary school, I helped a non-reg campaign for Senior Yell, and he won. I still have my overalls in my parents’ closet. I began to attend all kinds of A&M games. In high school, I earned the name “Aggie Alex” because of my love for A&M.

During my senior year of high school, I teased the idea of going to Missouri or Auburn because of their journalism schools. Those thoughts were torched the day I got accepted to A&M. 

I was meant to be an Aggie. Heck, my initials are ATM (on purpose, of course).

However, my love for A&M has changed since I stepped foot on campus in the fall of 2016. I chose to be a journalist. I want to make a career of writing about sports. But properly training to become a professional means one must begin to act like one.

There was no more wearing maroon to games or saying “we” or “us.” The team I loved so dearly for so many years had to become one I had to write about without throwing in personal objections. 

It took time, but I did it.

Sure I was called a homer a few times, especially when A&M was tabbed No. 4 in the College Football Playoff and I wrote a 1,000-word column about why the Aggies deserved the spot only for them to crumble in November. I was once, politely, asked by a SID to calm down in the press box.

At times it feels like part of me has been lost.

Something that has been such a big part of my life has completely changed over the course of three years. I don’t feel “redass” or “a true Aggie” at times. I know people on several teams I grew up with. They’ve seen me in both ways.

Friday might allow me to reconcile my love for A&M.

I’ve earned that Aggie Ring and have received an excellent education. Being from College Station has allowed me to build irreplaceable relationships that have helped me achieve so much in such little time. College Station will always be home to me, and so will A&M.

And even though I’ll never cheer (outwardly at least) for A&M, I’ll always have this Aggie Ring to wear, reminding me of A&M, and College Station, a true love in my heart. 

Alex Miller is a journalism junior and sports writer for The Battalion.