Adding to my near-monthly testimonial to Shane's Pack 780...Friday, September 10th Shane and Ty were invited to attend Meadow View Elementary's flag ceremony commemorating the events of September 11, 2001. As that flag was raised to half mast, I felt that bittersweet satisfaction that my boys were finally at an age in which they could begin to grasp the complete horror of a tragic national event - and as I teared up I couldn't decide whether that was good or bad.
Ty was not even a year old on that numbing day, Shane not even a thought in our heads. They beg for stories - as we watch the requisite programming featuring plumes of smoke, falling debris, crashing buildings, clouds of ash and terrified people, they just want to know what it felt like to watch the whole thing unfold, live. Being blessed enough to not know anyone personally involved in that diaster, they want to know what it was like for me, the closest person to them, to go through the motions of caring for small children as eras changed in the blink of an eye - we need diapers, do I dare trundle them in the car and go to Costco, when there could be hijackers over us right this second - what was that like? How scared were you? Did we understand? I wish they never had to.
September 11th itself was spent at the Air Force Academy as they hosted BYU on the gridiron - there is nothing like an AFA game, and now that the Y is out of the Mountain West, I'll truly miss bringing the fam down there every other year for their match-ups. There's no venue like it, particularly on that day - though it was a titch too hot and the stadium could use more bathrooms, it was just a touching display, start to finish (where else am I going to get handed a pocket-size copy of the Constitution while I wait to be frisked?)...above is a flag flown at Ground Zero and unfurled at the halftime show by rescue workers who survived the ordeal, returned veterans from Afghanistan, and cadets who will someday soon be sent to protect the interests of the U.S. abroad.
Each home game, all of the cadet squadrons are introduced and file onto the field in a display that can be called nothing but impressive - all those young men and women of the highest moral and intellectual caliber (that aren't already attending BYU, ahem!), the best of the best. Due to high winds we didn't get the parachute jumpers (man!) but as always, that fly-by makes your heart stop (and I can never get a picture of three jets going that fast).
You've gotta give 'em props for having a live mascot who performs at halftime - the Falcon had a bit of a crash toward the end, and my kids were just sick over it. I just think it'd be a hoot to let a live cougar loose at the next BYU home game. If only they had a suggestion box...
Cosmo isn't probably the best performing costumed mascot in the world, but to BYU alum kids, he's the bomb, they just line up for pictures, slap him high-fives, probably dream of him at night after they pray for Heavenly Father to watch over him. And there were a ton of us in force that day. Not that we had anything whatsoever to cheer for after the first quarter.
After the first touchdown. When we had hope.
Driving. In vain. I'll tellya what: I've never seen a BYU squad perform that badly before, at least not while I was sitting right there to witness it (we'll forget 1992's Holiday Bowl, thank you very much). We got stomped. And getting out of the parking lot took a millennium. But I'll miss it. A class act on both sides.
Adding to my near-monthly testimonial to Shane's Pack 780...Friday, September 10th Shane and Ty were invited to attend Meadow View Elementary's flag ceremony commemorating the events of September 11, 2001. As that flag was raised to half mast, I felt that bittersweet satisfaction that my boys were finally at an age in which they could begin to grasp the complete horror of a tragic national event - and as I teared up I couldn't decide whether that was good or bad.
Ty was not even a year old on that numbing day, Shane not even a thought in our heads. They beg for stories - as we watch the requisite programming featuring plumes of smoke, falling debris, crashing buildings, clouds of ash and terrified people, they just want to know what it felt like to watch the whole thing unfold, live. Being blessed enough to not know anyone personally involved in that diaster, they want to know what it was like for me, the closest person to them, to go through the motions of caring for small children as eras changed in the blink of an eye - we need diapers, do I dare trundle them in the car and go to Costco, when there could be hijackers over us right this second - what was that like? How scared were you? Did we understand? I wish they never had to.
September 11th itself was spent at the Air Force Academy as they hosted BYU on the gridiron - there is nothing like an AFA game, and now that the Y is out of the Mountain West, I'll truly miss bringing the fam down there every other year for their match-ups. There's no venue like it, particularly on that day - though it was a titch too hot and the stadium could use more bathrooms, it was just a touching display, start to finish (where else am I going to get handed a pocket-size copy of the Constitution while I wait to be frisked?)...above is a flag flown at Ground Zero and unfurled at the halftime show by rescue workers who survived the ordeal, returned veterans from Afghanistan, and cadets who will someday soon be sent to protect the interests of the U.S. abroad.
Each home game, all of the cadet squadrons are introduced and file onto the field in a display that can be called nothing but impressive - all those young men and women of the highest moral and intellectual caliber (that aren't already attending BYU, ahem!), the best of the best. Due to high winds we didn't get the parachute jumpers (man!) but as always, that fly-by makes your heart stop (and I can never get a picture of three jets going that fast).
You've gotta give 'em props for having a live mascot who performs at halftime - the Falcon had a bit of a crash toward the end, and my kids were just sick over it. I just think it'd be a hoot to let a live cougar loose at the next BYU home game. If only they had a suggestion box...
Cosmo isn't probably the best performing costumed mascot in the world, but to BYU alum kids, he's the bomb, they just line up for pictures, slap him high-fives, probably dream of him at night after they pray for Heavenly Father to watch over him. And there were a ton of us in force that day. Not that we had anything whatsoever to cheer for after the first quarter.
After the first touchdown. When we had hope.
Driving. In vain. I'll tellya what: I've never seen a BYU squad perform that badly before, at least not while I was sitting right there to witness it (we'll forget 1992's Holiday Bowl, thank you very much). We got stomped. And getting out of the parking lot took a millennium. But I'll miss it. A class act on both sides.
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