Hokies

I sit down to write this post each April 16th, and thoughts continue to elude me each year. How can you put into words such a day? How do you respect and remember what happened?  The emotions of these days don’t diminish with time; your memories of them don’t change or fade. Time moves on,…

I walked into the conference room two weeks ago for a regular staff meeting. Someone pulled up the agenda, and pit formed in my stomach as I read “active shooter training.” I avoid active shooter training whenever possible, and I prepared myself for what I would do. The CSPD officer who works as our campus…

Way back in September, Mac and I attended the largest football game ever. Virginia Tech took on Tennessee at the Bristol Motor Speedway. My parents and in-laws joined us. We stayed in Blacksburg and took a shuttle down to Bristol the day of the game. We tailgated for close to 7 hours (in retrospect, a…

Nine years. One shy of a decade. When this week comes each year, I’m shocked at how quickly time has passed and how vivid my memories of it are. I guess that’s what happens with these kind of days. They’re so out of the ordinary that the details from before it and after are seared…

8 years. It’s been 8 years since April 16th, 2007. I’ve now spent more April 16ths away from Blacksburg than I spent there. Though the years go by, the emotions of the day never change. The lovely Kate from A Thought and A Half texted me yesterday to ask about writing about April 16th. I’m…

Virginia Tech, like the other senior military academies, has a strong class ring tradition. Ours dates back to 1911 when a student designed a ring for his class a year after they finished college. Now, a class-elected committee designs a unique ring for each class, and ours features everything from bars downtown to eight stars in the Blacksburg sky…