Aggie Relay for Life

Last night was the final night of raising money for Aggie Relay for Life, which is an organization that is nation-wide that helps raise money for cancer research. It was a blast! Live music, buddies, running, food, cards, volleyball...it was amazing to see that many aggies in one spot doing something for others. We raised over $126,000! Exact number pending, but I'll let y'all know. I was a member of our team because my buddy Steve's mom has cancer. What is important to him is important to me. During the course of the night, I began thinking about how lucky I am. Blessed. Not lucky. God has deemed it necessary that I have two healthy parents, and a wonderful family and I have suffered very little loss in the course of my (albeit short) life. And I have some things to say to those I have lost to cancer:

Rhoda: I wish I could have known you! My mother is one of the most incredible women I have ever met and I know you had an enormous impact on her life. She misses you, but you would be so proud of the Christan mother she has become.

Grandmother: I still miss you sometimes. When something doesn't go my way, or I see a beautiful rose bush, or even when I brush my hair, remembering how much you loved my brother and me is almost to much to bear. You were everything a Grandmother should have been and more. I remember in the bathtub, you used to ooo and ahhh over the shamu shows I put on with my rag, in exchange for allowing you to brush out my hair afterwards, which I rarely sat still for. I wish you could be here now to see my boots, my brother in his fish uniform, my daddy and what an amazing man of the Lord's army he is. You would be so proud! I'd like to think that you know, but if nothing else I hope you know how much you are missed and loved by us all.

Grandaddy: I don't know if you remember this, but I used to follow behind you, trying to match my stride length with yours, usually falling in the process. You would set me back up, and let me follow along behind you again. I know now that you were not the giant of a man I thought you were then, but you understood my brother and me better than almost anyone I can think of. I remember thinking there wasn't anything you couldn't do as I watched you make bunny cakes, ride a tractor, kill snakes, and love your sometimes unruly family. The older I get, the more I realize what an amazing man you were. And you had one hell of a son, a man that I love so much and is a great daddy. I guess I know where he got it.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows."
James 1:17