I’m sure none of you ever forget things, but as I move deeper into my senior years, it happens.
Last night, while checking with my oldest friend about tornados and other bad weather moving through where he lives in Mississippi, it hit me of something BIG I forgot. Something that filled me with immediate regret.
My oldest friend is named Doug, and as a Christmas present, he gave money to Virginia Tech so he could place a cutout of someone in Cassell Coliseum. He chose my beloved Maggie The WonderBeagle, and it made me smile every time I watched the Hokies, knowing that at least one member of the family had left the house and was watching in Cassell.
But a few weeks ago, he forwarded an email saying with the season ending, those cutouts had to go. You were given a form to fill out to have them either mailed to you or picked up, and they had to be gotten by March 13. Otherwise, they were going in the shredder.
Last night while talking to Doug, it occurred to me it was March 17.
This led to a thought of “oh no, I’ve killed my dog,” and I took to Twitter to ask if anybody was available to help me try to stop the shredding of an Ashburn Foxhound. Twitter can be a nasty cesspool at times, but it is also filled with good people who will help you if they can. Several offers were made, and I got an email from one lovely person saying she worked at Virginia Tech and would be glad to help grab Maggie if she still existed.
So this morning I started with an email to Terry Bolt, Senior Director of Major Gifts for Intercollegiate Athletics, pleading for clemency. She immediately responded, forwarding the email to the person she thought was handling the cutouts. That person immediately responded, saying she was forwarding the request to Bob Gavagan, Associate Director, Marketing & Fan Experience, as this was his area.
Only a few minutes after that, I get an email from Bob saying “she’s alive and well in one of the Cassell closets.” We then worked out some details so the cutout could be picked up.
Note to Virginia Tech: That’s some world class customer service. To contact three different people I’ve never met (and I didn’t even make the donation) and get immediate responses from all three in such a short timeframe is unheard of these days.
So Maggie lives! Now all I will need to do is get the cutout back to Ashburn. I’ve just become aware that another friend (who is about to get a bottle of his favorite Irish Whiskey for agreeing to go meet my other friend) is going to be in the area this weekend. I see a plan coming together.
Could be a great weekend. Perhaps the Hokies upset Florida. Maybe Virginia Tech’s women beat Marquette.
And possibly cutout Maggie meets real Maggie.
It will be like having twins ?
