On Saturday, my spouse and I, along with friends of ours, were invited to go onto the field at the University of Oklahoma and participate in the opening moments of the game. We were allowed to help wave the giant flag during the National Anthem.
Let me preface this post by saying that I am not a huge fan of night time football games since I have had children. For some reason, the cold doesn’t agree with me. Correction, I know exactly why the cold and I aren’t friends. I was diagnosed with Raynaud’s. This disease affects the blood flow to the fingers and toes. What that equates to is white fingers and/or toes during the cold months. The cold and I are NOT friends. And this is not pleasant, by any means.
So, I went into the night thinking that it would be a short one.We arrived on the practice field in the late afternoon. The sun was still shining and the temperatures were in the 70s. I peeled off the sweatshirt and got ready to rehearse.
“Wild Bill” was our instructor on what to do. He sectioned us off into three groups initially. There were “holders”-those 60 people who held onto the flag and didn’t move. Then there were the 60 “movers” who unfurled the flag by walking backward. And finally the “sides”. The “sides” were further divided into “stars” and “stripes”, each containing 30 people. After those assignments were doled out, we were left with excess people.
Those people were assigned as “runners”. I panicked when I heard our task; I couldn’t be expected to run the length of the field, could I?
Alas, that wasn’t the case. As a “runner”, our job was to remain underneath the flag and make sure it “waved”. What was ironic was that when I had talked to friends about the evening, I had told them that I was hoping to recreated elementary school P.E. class. You know, where you’d have the parachute and you’d run underneath it to the other side? It turns out that is almost exactly what I did!
My job was to run underneath the flag and hit it so visually it would “wave”. I tried my darnedest but let me tell you, I failed more often than I succeeded. My height is a detriment to the job given to me. So instead, I took photos of my friends doing their job under the flag.
It was chaos to get us out to the field for the actual ceremony. Needless to say, game day isn’t a well organized machine. By the time we were ready, temperatures had dropped and I was lamenting the fact that I peeled off my sweatshirt and coat. Tailgaters were everywhere, students were hyped up and spectators were meandering all over the place. But once we were in place, it was go time.
Weather be damned!
The National Anthem started and we all did our jobs like good soldiers. According to my husband, who stayed in the stands, the flag looked magnificent. No one would ever know that I failed in my job. Others took up the mantle for me and made sure that our banner waved as it was supposed to.
I am happy to report that every once in a while, I was able to touch the flag myself. I felt a part of a bigger machine. I helped make the banner wave and salute our service men and women who have defended it. It is an experience I will never forget.