Friendly Rivals

Photo courtesy of rickdphotography.com

When I first moved to TX, there was a popular bumper sticker that read: Make a Texan happy, Put A Yankee On The Bus.  I didn’t really get what they had against the New York Yankees, but after I’d been here a while, I figured out that I was the Yankee because I came from north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Years back, I might have been the rival, but this was the mid-eighties. Were we still fighting? 

     Now, being a peace-loving soul, I’m not much into feuds, but there exists another rivalry by tradition down in Texas, The University of TX v. The University of OK, and they’re playing their traditional Red River Rivalry football game today in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl stadium. Coolest thing is, my daughter marches for UT and her cherished friend Chelsea marches at OU. 

   The girls started playing clarinet together in sixth grade and they worked hard to become All-State musicians by their junior year. That same year, they became clarinet section leaders for the marching band, and their concert band earned the prestigious Texas Honors Band award. These two then led the marching band their senior year as drum majors (Chelsea left, Kaitlyn right) for the Mighty Mustangs and just before they graduated, they played together in the Pit Band Orchestra for the Music Man. Kaitlyn and Chelsea are true-blue friends with a treasured past, but now, as college freshmen, they're marching apart. 

     It's an exciting morning for these two musicians; I just got a text with a picture of them uniformed in their college colors - Kaitlyn in burnt orange wearing a Stetson, Chelsea in red holding her plumed hat - as they prep for the big game. I can FEEL Kaitlyn's excitement to be reunited with her childhood cohort, now all grown up. Reporter Diane Jennings from the Dallas News interviewed the girls this week and wrote a really nice feature article on their friendly rivalry for yesterday’s Metropolitan section. What a thrill to read what the girls had to say about their college choices, their new allegiances, and their predictions about the outcome of today's game. In the end, though, they agreed that nothing, not even the Red River, could ever sever their friendship ties.