In November 2021, for the first time since 2014, Oklahoma State (my Alma Mater) won Bedlam. Last time they won, I sat in the student section as a college sophomore. This year, I watched on TV in my parents’ den with my family. After this year’s win, the Oklahoma State Cowboy Football account posted to Facebook a Bedlam Champs image with the caption, “It Just Means More.” This is hilariously ironic and if you want to know the real meaning behind it, google it along with all that has been happening in college football with conference changes. But this phrase tugged at my heart strings when it was posted. There are a lot of things I used to hear, see, taste, smell, and touch that I can truly say it just means more than it ever did before. In the words of Julie Andrews, these are a few of my favorite things:
Hearing Dad singing along to the OSU fight song from the living room – it just means more.
Watching Christmas Vacation, my favorite Christmas movie – it just means more.
Hearing Africa come on the radio while in the car with Avery – it just means more.
Tasting that first sip of coffee in the morning – it just means more.
Decorating the Christmas tree – it just means more.
Feeling the embrace of Mom’s hug – it just means more.
Smelling the incense and hearing my favorite hymn at Mass – it just means more.
Driving my car – it just means more.
Seeing a beautiful Oklahoma sunset – it just means more.
Sleeping in my own bed – it just means more.
Hearing the BC Clark jingle for the first time this year – it just means more.
Tasting Godiva chocolate cheesecake after graduating to solid foods in the hospital – it just means more.
Holding Levi for the second time (the first time after surviving the trauma) – it just means more.
Little did I know at that age just how much my life would change the year we were to win Bedlam again. Granted, I wish there wasn’t a seven year gap between wins! A lot has changed in the past seven years. I graduated from Oklahoma State. I moved to Tennessee. I began a long-distance relationship with my best friend. I graduated with my masters and moved back home. We got married, bought a house, found out we were having a baby, had said baby, and our lives changed in more ways than one during just that night alone. After almost losing my life, it feels like I’m experiencing a lot of little moments for the first time all over again. Each of these good things when I experience them now versus before, it just means more. For some reason I feel cheesy naming this for what it is – a new appreciation for life. So I think I’ll stick to this simple tagline. When OSU won, I sat in my parents den with my whole family, all screaming at the television in excitement with only a minute left on the clock. I sat there with such warmth in my heart to see this day, and pondered how now, it all just means more.
Four in a Million 
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