It's a typical Aggie football weekend in College Station.

Two families tailgate before the game, then head to Kyle Field to cheer on the team.

But it's not their love for football that brought these families together.
It was Texas A&M's darkest day, and every parent's worst nightmare.

On November 18, 1999, Aggie Bonfire came crashing to the ground.

Among the 12 to die were two young women. Miranda Adams and Jamie Hand weren't friends while at A&M, but they did share the same passion for bonfire.

"It started with the fact that we have something in common and then after we met, under such dire circumstances, we found that we had a lot more in common than just the fact that we lost our daughters to the collapse," Neva Hand said during an interview at the Bonfire Memorial.

"It's one of those things that we're sorry we had to meet under these circumstances, but we're so blessed that we know each other," Carolyn Adams said.

Since the collapse, Larry and Neva Hand and Kenny and Carolyn Adams share season tickets to Aggie football games. Before each game, you'll find them tailgating in the shadows of the Bonfire Memorial.

"We come up here because we seem to be drawn to the place because our daughter was so close to it," Neva Hand explains of their frequent visits to Aggieland.

"You feel like you're maybe a little closer to her, Larry Hand says referring to his daughter, Jamie.

"Her (Miranda’s) spirit is here at A&M. I've always felt her here every time we come. To come out to the memorial is like almost visiting her, " Carolyn Adams said.

So hand in hand, they come the memorial. To visit the grounds where their daughters lost their lives.

"You don't ever get over it, but every family has to deal with it in their own way,” Kenny Adams said. “We have found that it's a little more dull. It still seems like it happened just yesterday."

“We're exactly where God wants us to be today in this journey, and I think he has put some very special people into our lives," Carolyn Adams adds.

"We don't cry everyday like we did the first five years, but we still cry," Neva Hand says while holding back tears.

Her husband, Larry adds, "You don't ever get over it, but you try to learn to live with it."

And before they leave Aggieland, the group gathers at the spot where center pole once stood, wiping away tears.

Tears that fall less often, but tears that still fall.