Joel Frey

Meg

Tomorrow morning, Meg attends her first classes as a member of the fightin' Texas Aggie class of 2015. On Tuesday, she turns 18. Three days later, Heather, Grandma Lu and I will catch a flight to Houston, pick up a rental car and drive an hour north to Aggieland to spend the long weekend with her and eat some birthday cake. We'll be among the 80,000 Aggie fans at Kyle Field on Sunday evening when the football team opens its season versus old Southwestern Conference rival SMU. Heather and I are determined to learn the War Hymn between now and kick-0ff.

As we look ahead to creating those and many other Aggie memories over the next several years, I thought I'd share a few from last weekend when we made the 700 mile drive from El Paso to College Station and moved Meg into her new home-away-from-home. How about a Top 10?

10. The group hug the three of us shared in Meg's room the night before we hit the road. "There's no crying in baseball!" Heather exclaimed, giving us a much needed chuckle as we finished packing her up.

9. Waiving good-bye to Grandma Lu after dropping the pups, Cinder and Schuster, off with her to spend the weekend.

8. Lunch at Taco Bell in Fort Stockton, TX: As we were eating, I checked Facebook and noticed Heather had posted that she was reciting Philippians 4:13 to herself. "Philippians 4:13?" I inquired, not knowing the passage from memory. She did, but needed to text it to me at that moment.

7. Sunday morning worship at Beautiful Savior Lutheran followed by lunch with a few of the fellow Aggies from Dallas who had strongly encouraged me to bring Meg to TAMU for a visit over burritos on one of my business trips to Big D. the summer before she began her senior year.

6. A couple of hours later the lunch gang - Jim, Phil, and Frese (the Dallas Aggies) plus Jim Sr. and sister Kim - transformed into the moving crew. After bringing the first load into Meg's room, Jim the engineering major quickly sized up the situation and suggested a layout similar to his when he had been a dorm resident his freshman year. Twenty minutes later, the beds were lofted, the desk furniture neatly tucked underneath with plenty of room for a futon if Meg and her roommate so desire. With the heavy lifting completed, the eight of us returned to the parking garage and gathered the rest of Meg's belongings in one load.  "I love the Calvary boys," Heather said, referring to the church in Dallas where we all met many years ago.

5. Not too long after we started unpacking Meg's stuff, her roommate Jenny from Austin arrived with her parents. This was the first time the girls had met, but they did text and Facebook over the summer. Jenny's original plan was to check-in to the dorm on Tuesday, but when she found out that Meg was arriving on Sunday, she moved up her plans so Meg wouldn't have to spend the first couple of nights in the dorm. How sweet is that?!

4. The unavoidable trip to Target: On Monday afternoon, following lunch at Panda Express - one of Meg's faves - we joined dozens of other Aggies and their parents at the retail mecca to stock up on essentials and a few other items, like an area rug. Thankfully, we still had a few gift cards left over from graduation easing the pain at the cash register - somewhat. Note to parents with children who will want to go to college someday: start saving your pennies immediately!

3. Dinner on Monday evening at Fuego: Jim, Phil and Frese met us again along with two more Dallas Aggies - Aaron and Blake - Aaron's roommate Austin and one of Meg's friends from Fish Camp, Jake. The energy at the table - old friends getting reacquainted while passing down sage words of wisdom to new Aggies Meg and Jake - was fantastic. We also discussed potential tailgating opportunities this weekend for the SMU game.

2. The great search for Meg's car: On Tuesday morning before we reversed course to West Texas, we dropped by the parking garage housing Meg's car to pick up a couple of items that needed to come back with us. I dropped them off and waited...and waited...and waited. A few minutes after realizing they weren't exactly sure of the car's whereabouts Meg started clicking the alarm. The good news was that they heard the beep. The bad news was that the echo in the garage was making it difficult to pin down the exact location. Eventually, they tracked Meg's ride down and we had a good laugh on our way to Starbucks.

1. Saying "see you soon" to Meg. As we pulled up to the dorm to part ways the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band was practicing the aforementioned War Hymn in an open area near the residence hall. Heather quickly hit the record button on her iPhone and captured their rehearsal. When the band paused to catch its breath, I gave Meg a kiss on the cheek and then watched as she and Heather walked away arm-in-arm. They embraced only as a mother and daughter who have shared so much over the course of the latter's formative years are able to. Then, Meg headed left and Heather turned around. I met her halfway and held her hand back to the car. It was undoubtedly sad, but at the same time it was difficult not to be anything but excited for Meg as she faces this next chapter of her young life.

Gig'em!

 

 

 

On to Aggieland

In yesterday's post, I mentioned being an "affable step-father." While Megan would hopefully agree that we've had our fair share of warm moments since I moved to El Paso, she'd probably also point out that "affable/grumpy" would be a more fitting description. Just this afternoon she half-kiddingly said "you tire me" after we went through her current to-do list. So, like many of you, my futile quest for parenting perfection continues.

Lately, Meg's focus has been on checking off an increasing number of items related to her enrollment at Texas A&M University. She and I giddily opened her "congrats, you've been accepted" packet in mid-December in our kitchen (definitely a warm moment!) and since she surprised Heather and the rest of the family with the news on Christmas Eve, we've fully mobilized.  Our mission? Getting Meg to Aggieland next fall.

Over the last week, the task has been applying for housing. Like many campuses with humongous populations, dorms fill up quickly in College Station. "Don't wait too long," was the consistent piece of advice we were given during our visit in October. After consulting with several current students and a couple of online resources, Meg made her preferences known last night and completed the application. Today, we chose dates for summer orientation. Later, she'll need to sign up for Fish Camp. And then take a math assessment test. And then mail in her final transcripts. The "ands" will do nothing but mutate between now and 2015.

However, tedious, it's been so much fun for Heather and I to guide Meg through this time in her young life. We're already looking forward to spending a football weekend in College Station next fall and cheering on the Aggies!

Happy birthday to my Mom! Heather pointed out to me today, that  she shares a birthday with Lisa Marie Presley! Coincidentally, Lisa Marie's father and Heather's Mom were both born on January 8th!

 

"Have a biscuit Joel...and some gravy."

Last weekend, I traveled to Middle Tennessee and met up with college buddies Mike, Country and Justin for MTSU's big game against Mississippi State. The four of us called Reynolds Hall on the MTSU campus home way back when and it was the first time we had all been together in a dozen years. If you've read Cypress Walls, Mike, as you may recall, was with Heather and me the night we took a swim in a fountain near downtown Nashville. Country, too, is mentioned in the book, including a story about a late night frog gig at a Murfreesboro golf course. I'm pretty sure Justin was with us on that occasion too.

Throughout the weekend, we shared countless laughs remembering the people, places and events that made up that 18 months of our lives. On Friday night at Mike's comfy suburban home it felt little had changed as we stayed up until 1:00 a.m. with beers in hand, flipping between ESPN and reruns of "The Office." But as the weekend continued to unfold at Cracker Barrel, Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, and Toot's, our conversations took a more grown-up turn. Don't worry - there were plenty of sarcastic barbs flying back and forth, especially when I ordered oatmeal and a muffin for breakfast. Much of our discussions, however, revolved around our kids, spouses/significant others, pets, careers and mortgages. Later on Saturday night, Justin headed back to Shelbyville and Mike and Josh took turns dozing off as the Yankee-Angels game went into extra innings. I called it a night in the 11th inning. In the fall of 1995, none of us would have gone to bed without knowing the outcome.

Did we have a good time? Absolutely. Was anyone a tad disappointed that we didn't drink from a funnel or play a few rounds of beer pong? Nah, I think we all realized before our reunion that we left those days of incorrectness behind a long time ago. Plus, Mike's wife assured us on Saturday morning that she would not be bailing out anyone who felt the need to take any wayward detours down memory lane.

Fellas, let's not wait so long between visits. Hopefully next time the Blue Raiders will put on a better show, the sun will come out and there won't be an empty seat in the house.