Well, I can't believe it's been a year since everything went down at VT. That was such a long day - I remember first hearing about it, and then calling everyone I knew still at Tech or affiliated with Tech at all obsessively all day long as the news continued to break. I remember being completely speechless when the number of people who died jumped from "less than 5" to "roughly 30" and then sitting at work, not doing any work, just refreshing CNN and MSNBC's webpages about every 30 seconds. Anyway, it's been a long year of lots of other hard-hitting events but what happened at Tech still hits me really hard. I don't know if anyone else still struggles with it, but I still find myself tearing up about it sometimes. I have a really hard time knowing that a place that I hold so dear is somewhere that everyone knows about, but for not the right reasons. I feel like I've just watched all of my great memories be dragged through the mud.
So here I am in California, proudly sporting my VT sweatshirt all day and no one has asked about it, mentioned it, there are no events happening on campus, nothing. And don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting anything big, I guess I just thought it would at least pop up in someone's consciousness. High expectations. I would love to be in Blacksburg.
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4 comments:
my sentiments exactly. it's so sad that everyone knows our school for the wrong reasons...but at least they get to see our resilience and the strength of our school spirit, which is one of the things we all love so much about VT.
I guess it's different b/c GMU is a Virginia school, but there were a few things on campus today for VT, and there were a few ribbon-wearers here and there. And then me, completely decked out :-)
LOVE YOU!
...we remember...
last year i wasn't refreshing cnn and msnbc every 30 seconds... it was more like 5 seconds and getting frustrated if it wasn't updated yet
Like you, when I realized the "day" I couldn't help but remember the shock and horror as the events of the day unfolded. Even worse, was the fact that I remembered that you were an RA in West AJ -- and that's when the hair on the back of my neck started to stand on edge. To this day, I can't articulate the horror of the loss of innocent life... and I can't imagine the pain that the parents endured. Like you, I believe that for the next few years, VA Tech will be associated with this horrific tragedy, but the reality is that from the beginning of this nightmare, neither the students, nor the school officials would allow the media or others to make VA Tech anything less than it is....a wonderful caring college. I believe that Tech will long be remembered in the "aftermath" for the dignified manner in which the school, students and community came together, standing proudly for everything that Tech is and represents! Be proud of your association my Hokie daughter.
I love you always.
MOM
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