How Many Aggies Does It Take?

I love my niece. I really do. But when she called me last February with a simple request, I had to really search my mind to the time I said, "You need anything, give me a call."

The simple request was if I would mind  if she brought a few of her friends with her for a short visit. Having told her long ago to feel free to bring some with her for a beach visit, I was thinking three, maybe four girls. So I said sure bring 'em and come on down. That was when the bomb dropped.

"Aunt Cindy, we need a place to stay for the Texas Adopt-a-Beach cleanup weekend."

"Okay, that's not a problem." I was thinking maybe eight to ten.

"Well, here's the deal. It will be around sixteen, but I PROMISE it won't be more than twenty."

I started thinking about where they would all go. I have three bedrooms, but one of them I use as a very small study. Where would they all sleep? And food? I knew as teenagers that they could really fork it down. But college kids? And I didn't even want to think about the water bill. But because I love my niece, I said yes.

I borrowed air mattresses, pushed all the furniture to the side, made quilt pallets, and went to the grocery store. I patiently waited the days out until their arrival. I began to think it might be a little fun once I got over my shock of seeing that many kids all over the floor.

The drive from College Station to Corpus Christi is about six hours in length. I knew they weren't leaving until the end of classes around five in the evening. Knowing it would be late, I decided to calm myself watching Game 6 of the Spurs-Grizzlies series. Well Ha Ha on me.

The worse the score for the Spurs, the later it got. Finally, during a time out after one of their few leads, my niece called to tell me they had taken an inadvertent detour and would be just a little later than first thought.
The game wore on, as did my nerves, both as a Spurs fan and a worried aunt as to when they would get here. By the end of the game I was ready to uncork the wine and dig into the tortilla chips. I didn't find the wine, but I did find the chips, which I thought tasted much better with a little hot sauce.

The kids arrive around 12:30 that night. Knowing they would be tired, and knowing we would all be up very early in the morning, I figured they would settle down pretty quickly. They all staked out their spots, and began to what I call "setting up their camp" area. I found a chair to watch, stunned at the fact they brought their own food, mattresses and towels. They all began to fall onto their beds once they each got their turn in the bathroom. I retreated into my little domain with my niece. Sometime around 2:00 the house got very quiet.

The next morning, after they left for the cleanup, I sat down for a much needed cup of coffee and the morning paper. When it became time for them to finish up the cleanup, I started getting out the food to have lunch ready for when they got back.

That's when I took a good look at what they brought. And at what I bought.

They brought fresh fruit, whole grain cereals with low-fat or fat free milk. Fruit bars, granola bars. They did bring some pop tarts. They were still kids, after all. They didn't bring anything to drink except water.

Me? I bought potato and tortilla chips. I bought sodas and cookies. I opted for flour tortillas for the breakfast tacos mixture I cooked up using spicy sausage.  I got hot dogs for lunch. No turkey dogs for me; I had to have all beef dogs! Did I mention the cookies? They were opened by ME not by them.

It was good to see that today's youth were eating more healthy than I did at their age. And while they did consume the tacos, hot dogs, and most of the cookies, they also snacked on the fresh fruit and ate very few chips. Their one concession to total unhealthy was sodas. Good to know some things will never change!

As I got to talk and visit with them, I started to see a much brighter future for our country and our planet. They were serious about the meaning and purpose of their club. They were smart, articulate, and extremely polite. Thinking they were not that much older than the kids I taught, it gave me hope that once they got to college, their maturity and unselfish thinking of others would grow by leaps and bounds. Maybe there is hope for the older generation, the greatest generation, that they will be leaving our world in very capable hands. Not only will the Earth be healthier, so will they. They are learning for our mistakes, and are determined to move forward with better, smarter decisions.

Their club is called EPIC. It stands for Environmental Programs Involvement Committee. Their members are all part of the Environmental Programs at Texas A & M College Station. And it took just sixteen Aggies to clean up over a mile of dirty beach along the barrier island of St. Jo's.

The EPIC club is awesome. But the Aggies that make up the club will be EPIC adults. I hope I live long enough to experience their contributions to society.

So hey, you EPIC kids. Y'all come back now, ya hear?