9 years ago...

9 years ago today, I was a sophomore at Texas A&M. Dustin and I were dating, and I was living with 2 great friends (M & A). About 1:30 in the morning my roommate (A) and I were driving Dustin and her boyfriend (R) back to the dorms. R asked if Bonfire was leaning. There was no way it could be, could it? About 4:30 in the morning we got the 1st call from R that Bonfire had fallen at 2:42 am, barely over an hour since we drove by it. How could that be? About 6 am we got another call from M (who was in Houston trying on her wedding dress). Her little sister was a freshman and they couldn't find her. I listened intently to the radio and news hoping it was a sick joke, but the death count kept climbing. A & I decided to do something and went to give blood. The line was around the building, and it took us 4 hours to get to the front of the line. Tons of businesses were bringing food and drinks to those waiting. Just watching the community pull together during this horrible time, it was the defining moment when I knew I wanted to make BCS my home, someday I wanted to raise my children here. We went to the prayer service at Central with George W. Bush in attendance and to the memorial service at Reed Arena with the senior Bush. There are so many more memories from that time, and it is unbelievable to me that 9 years has past. In the end 12 Aggies lost their lives, and 27 more were injured (1 very seriously and will permanetly be in a wheelchair and was over a month before they were even sure he would make it).

http://bonfire.tamu.edu/