Shooting rampage at Va Tech..

I was watching and crying buckets! She made me jump up in the middle of my den and I didn't even know what a Hokie was! In that moment I wanted to be one though! It was very moving and inspiring Toots. She's one of the most self assured and determined ladies I've ever seen.

I hadn't a clue about a hokie either. now we know a lot about VT hokies... my heart goes out to the students and families. and its inspiring to see colleges and universities across the country reaching out in support of the VT campus.

Either Sean Penczak (my boy) or Brian Alberts (Sean's room mate) playing Taps at the student arranged Candlelight Vigil on Tuesday night. I'm pretty sure it's Sean, though he's not seen it yet so he couldn't say. Sean and Alberts are part of the Corps of Cadets at VT. The CoC lost two students on Monday and the entire group is trying to adjust to the knowledge that those two places in PT every morning will not be filled again.

I begged my mother to let me go up to VT this weekend to be with Sean, but she said I wasn't allowed to. But VT is now "like a ghost town" as Sean told me last night as he drove back home to Stafford, Virginia. I am planning on begging my mother to let me return to Stafford to be with him. My best friend in Tally will probably be going with me if we do go, as she has the weekend off. I'm hoping my mom will be more suseptable to the idea as she and my father live in Stafford, only like two miles from Sean.

The gunshots of Cho Seung-Hui echo not only across VT's campus, they ring in our hearts even here, hundreds of miles away. We can grieve along with them, we can heal with them and we can stand with them.

"Forget all college affiliation today. For today, we are all Hokies."

I didn't want to start a new thread as I always seem to start serious ones...

On Monday, April 16th, Virginia Tech's Corps of Cadets' Regimental Band lost one of their own, 20 year old Matthew La Porte.

Below is a video made by the Corps in rememberance of him.

At the end, Taps is played by Brian Alberts with Sean Penczak as the echo during a candle light vigil on Tech campus Tuesday night.

Thirty-two people lost their lives in the persuit of higher education and, in Matt La Porte's case, for their country. Acts of heroism is not always on the battlefield or necessarily in battle gear. Matt was killed trying to stop the gunman and took a bullet that could have been meant for someone else. I pray that I may one day have that kind of courage and faith.

God bless.

I'm SoWal bound tomorrow, btw.