"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21)

The writer of this verse probably wasn't referring to physical possessions when he wrote this, but it definitely applies. You can learn a lot about a person by knowing what they hold dear to their hearts. Here are three things that mean a lot to me.

My Kittens. Most of my friends don't like cats or are conveniently allergic. I think cats get a bad rap. It is true, they are not at all like dogs. But to say that cats aren't loyal, playful, or loving is a straight up lie. Ellie (left) and Murphy (right) are two of my best friends. They have personalities and are genuinely loving creatures. Sometimes they can sense that I am having a bad day or am upset and they will sit with me or curl up in my lap. At night they sleep next to me. Often I will wake up and Murphy will be snuggled up under my arm so that I am spooning with the cat. They provide me with an unmeausurable amount of joy and entertainment. Almost every day at work I get on Craigslist and read through all the adds of people who are trying to find new homes for their pets. It breaks my heart to see how many people are simply getting rid of their animals. Just giving them away like you would an old pair of pants. I cannot fathom how people are willing or able to do this. There is not a thing in this world that could make me get rid of my kittens. I would risk my life to save Ellie and Murphy. They are my family, my friends, my babies and I need them just as much as they need me.



My Aggie Ring. If you're not an Aggie, you probably won't get this. Most colleges have class rings, but very few students actually ever get one let alone wear it. At A&M you count down the days until you are able to get your Aggie Ring and once you have it, you wear it forever. There are very strict rules about who is able to purchase one. You have to have a certain number of A&M hours, a certain GPR, etc. When you can finally order your Aggie Ring it is a HUGE deal. The Association of Former Students throws a big party at the Clayton Williams building on campus. Numbers and stickers are handed out, people wait in line for hours, family comes in town to see the big moment. (My family did not. I'm the red headed step child. No bitterness.) Its an important moment in the life of an Aggie. Every Aggie Ring looks the same. You have three choices: white or yellow gold, antiqued finish or not, and diamond or no diamond. Every detail of the Aggie Ring has significance.

The Aggie Ring is so important to the Aggie family that each year in the A&M Alumni magazine a whole issue is devoted to it. It always includes stories of miraculous ways Aggie Rings have been returned to their owners after having been lost. Stories of soldiers losing their ring on the battle fields of World War II or Vietnam, only to be returned to them decades later. I got my first Aggie Ring on September 22nd of 2004. Yes, I said first. Somehow I managed to lose my first one. I think it was accidentally thrown away inside a rubber glove when I was working at Bernie's (a coffee shop.) At a little over $400, it took me over a year to save up the money to buy the second one. I'm hoping one day my story can be featured in the A&M magazine after my first ring finds its way back to me. There is also the Aggie tradition of "dunking" your ring. It involves dropping your ring in a pitcher of beer and drinking it as fast as you can, ending up with your ring between yoru teeth, while your friends watch on. (Or hold your hair back while you barf.) Some people do a certain number of shots, a pitcher of soda, a huge ice cream sundae, but most do beer. Stupid...absolutely, but a priceless memory I will never forget! My Aggie Ring represents 6 years of my life (the best I've had so far,) the wonderful friends and memories I made, all of the life and academic lessons I learned, and the school that I love so much.



Charlie the Bunny. In 1999 a devastating tornado hit the Oklahoma City area. A group from my church youth group went on a mission trip to help clean up after the disaster. We took two vans full of teenagers and stayed at a church in Oklahoma. We brought sleeping bags, toiletries and work clothes. All of the girls and women slept in one giant carpeted room and the boys in another. We got up every morning at the crack of dawn and did hard manual labor all day. I spent one day in a field picking up debris - anything from pieces of houses to paper trash. (Did I mention this was in the dead heat of summer.) Another day was spent in a huge warehouse separating clothing donations that people around the country had given. And I spent another day in a food shelter packaging frozen blueberries. My hands were stained blue for several days after that. The work was hard and it was exhausting, but very rewarding. In the evenings we would go out to eat and hang out with all of the other youth groups that had come to help. It was just an all around great time. We had a blast. On the trip home to Arlington we stopped in an outlet mall and did some shopping. It was there that I saw Charlie. The name given to him by the Ty corporation was Hippity, but I named him after the cute boy I had spent that week swooning over. I haven't seen that boy since that trip and actually didn't even remember that he was my bunny's name sake until I was writing this. I slept with Charlie the Bunny every night until I moved in with Keith. Now he sits beside me on my bedside table. Charlie has been on many trips with me, stayed with me through out college, through break ups and crushes, and through times when I didn't really see the point of going on. He is a very snuggly friend and I will keep him forever.