The Aggie Ring

Apparently, college rings are a BIG STINKIN' DEAL if you go to A&M.  I'll save you all of the details, but basically, if you don't already know, it's major.  I'm beginning to believe that the ring may mean more to future employers than the degree itself.

Brian is in his senior year at A&M and on Friday he received his ring.  He has been talking about this thing since he was applying for college.  He has dreamed about this thing for a very long time.  It's a good thing he doesn't read this blog, because I tell you, he was outright giddy with excitement!

So, we all packed up on Friday and headed out to College Station to hang out with Brian when he got his ring.

Yes, Mom and Dad are standing with Brian under a giant Aggie ring.  This was not an easy picture to get because of how many people there were!  Not to mention, there were photographers stationed on the good sides of the ring and people were lined up to take pictures behind me.  Oh, and Brian gave me about every single excuse in the book for not wanting to take this picture. 

We hung out around campus until Brian had to go to class and Molly got to show off her outfit that Brian bought her when she was born.

Every student waits for the day they receive their ring.  A&M is also crazy into traditions.  I'm pretty sure they have a tradition for anything and everything.  So naturally, there is a tradition around the ring.

The tradition says that you can't actually wear your ring until you "dunk" it in a pitcher of beer and drink the entire pitcher.  At least that's what I understood.  Please don't shoot me if I'm wrong. 

Cassie bought Brian a very nice A&M pitcher especially for his dunking.  

I do have to admit though, that I often feel really bad for my family.  They think it is super awesome to have a photographer in the family, but while I am extremely responsible and on top of things for clients, I am the worst photographer for my own family. 

As I was getting ready to take pictures of the actual ring dunk, my battery died.  The only battery I brought.  I didn't even bring my camera bag.  Just a bare camera with a now dead battery.  So, unfortunately, these are the only pictures I have right now.  Sadly, I don't even have pictures of the actual ring.

Luckily, Cassie did rescue me and let me use her camera, but they are still on her computer so I will share those once I get them.  Seriously I love the ones on her camera because you can actually see Brian and the ring! Ha!

But to give you an idea of the size of the pitcher and how much beer he consumed at once...

Yup, that's a lot of beer. 

 I'm pretty sure most college seniors head to the favorite bars with a big group of friends to dunk their rings, but Brian is a simple family guy.  Don't get me wrong, he loves a party, but he wanted us all there and he wanted to dunk his ring at home so Molly could be there.  What a great uncle!