A Blue and Gold Weekend

You know you are a die hard football fan when you sit for two hours in a cold, constant drizzle to watch a team’s spring game. And that’s just what I did last weekend along with 28,000 other crazies.

My mom, dad and I headed to South Bend, Indiana, which I consider to be one of the best places on earth. For those who don’t know, it’s the home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and a second home to me. I not only spent most falls of my childhood there, but also four years of college at Saint Mary’s, the (in my humble opinion) better school. Either way, there is nothing quite as magical to me as a football weekend in the Bend.

Spring game or not, it was fun to see the Irish back on the field and gave me something to hold over my impatience for the college football season to start. Fall can’t come soon enough for me!

After the game, we went to mass at the Basilica, which is one of the most beautiful churches in the world. And I’ve been to Rome, where there are more beautiful churches in a square mile than anywhere else. Sitting there, staring at the amazing arched ceiling, I was flooded with so many wonderful memories.

I thought about my mom telling me how when I was little, I said I wanted to go to Notre Dame, not Saint Mary’s and when she asked why, I said, “Because there’s boys here.”

I thought about my sister when we were kids and walking around with handmade signs that shouted in brightly colored marker “I need a ticket.”

I thought about my time as a football manager and how awesome it was to work at football practices, buff helmets before they were painted, get the locker room ready before game days, and getting to touch the Play Like A Champion Today sign.

I thought about how I met two of my best friends in the world at SMC and found another who had been in my life for a long time, my sister, that I didn’t fully appreciate until we shared a year in South Bend together.

I thought about how just seeing the Golden Dome makes me think of my parents and where they met and how glad I am that they did.

And most of all, I think of how there are so few things that can replace the feeling I have of being in South Bend on a football weekend, with my family and friends. Whether the team wins or loses, I’ll always have that. Even though I’d much prefer we win! Go Irish!