Today marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic bonfire collapse that killed 12 Texas A&M students.

I had the honor of attending the candlelight service held this morning at 2:42am. It was freezing, it was late (or early, depending how you look at it), but that didn’t keep the Aggie spirit away. Thousands of students and former students came out to the Bonfire Memorial site last night to pay their respects for those who lost their lives.

2009 Candlelight Service honoring the 12 students who died on the stack 10 years ago today. Photo by Doug Klembara.

The service was very touching. One of the mom’s of the fallen students orchestrated the events… leading us through prayer, song, and times of silence.

I know it’s small, but on the Aggie Athletics site, I switched out our traditional “aTm” logo with the bonfire remembrance logo. I like to think that’s our small way of remembering the students who gave their lives for Bonfire. The new logo will stay up through Thanksgiving day after we BTHO tu.

On a bigger scale, our 12th Man Productions team produced a wonderful documentary DVD that takes a very intimate into the 1999 Texas/Texas A&M football game and all the events that surrounded that game.

I know the guys at 12th Man Productions worked very hard, and the few clips I’ve seen of the DVD are moving in themselves and I can’t wait to get a copy for Laura and I.

I closed out my blog last night saying I was hoping to get to bed early, rest, and hit the gym again today… that didn’t happen. After watching the Bonfire Memorial Service online that took place at Reed Arena last night, I felt like I should go to the memorial that night.

I got home about 5 minutes before 4 this morning. So, needless to say, I am quite tired today. Today has been quite busy… between a press conference, building the Burning Desire page for the website, and Aggie Basketball tonight (where I’m writing this from), I haven’t had a chance to stop and think until now.

If you haven’t figured it out, I didn’t/won’t make it to the gym today. I really am going to get in bed at a decent time tonight and get back in the routine in the morning.

Well, I’d better wrap this up… there’s 2 minutes left in the game and I’ve got to pack up and head down to the post game press conference room.