Incredible

I'm a little upset because I totally posted a blog Friday night telling all about how excited I was for the weekend. Or so I thought, anyway. I was really tired because it had been a long and busy, but good day. I must have just been really out of it and not saved it or published it. Bummer.

But that's really the only thing I have to be upset about, because this weekend was AWESOME!!! I've said it before, I'll say it again- I have the best girlfriend ever! She took me to the Notre Dame game in South Bend, Indiana. It was great because I am a huge fan and I have never been to one of their football games before. And even though they are 1-9 this season and it feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest every Saturday afternoon, I still love them so it was great to see in person. Since I missed the second post last week, and because I'm still so excited about it, I'll give you a play-by-play of the weekend.

Friday Mary and I got to her house in Fort Wayne around 7pm. Her brother and his wife, and her brother's friend and his wife met us and we went out for dinner. The six of us went to Flanigan's, which is kind of an Irish-themed restaurant close by. If you ever get the chance to go, get the ribs, because I did and they were great. After we ate we went and bought groceries for the next day to tailgate with. Then we went back to Mary's house and watched "Rudy" to get ready for the next day's happenings.

After about 4-5 hours of sleep, we got up early and drove to South Bend for the game. It was less than a 2 hour drive from Mary's house, so it wasn't too bad. We grilled and listened to music and talked to other Irish fans close by. It was a lot of fun to see all the other die-hard Notre Dame fans from literally all over the country and even Canada. From where we were parked, we couldn't find a single Indiana license plate, which I thought was pretty amazing.



Around 11:45, Mary and I left the spot where we parked and walked to campus. Where we parked was about a mile from the stadium because it was completely on the other side of campus. It was a really nice walk though because it was almost perfect weather and the campus is beautiful. As we were walking around admiring everything, we saw a group of people standing around so we walked over to see what was going on. As we walked up we realized that the whole team was leaving mass, so we got to see them and the head coach Charlie Weis as they left. It was a really cool experience.


After walking around a little more, we decided to head over to the stadium. We got in about an hour before kickoff because I was just so excited. The ushers were really nice and even took a couple pictures for us. Since there wasn't many people in the stadium yet, I got to get pretty close to the field to take pictures, too. After we got to our seats (which, even though they were two rows from the top, were excellent seats) we were able to sit and talk for a little while. (It's probably good to note that I probably didn't stop smiling the entire time we were in South Bend, except for when we started losing.) It was just so cool to see all the history and tradition that Notre Dame has. Incredible.


After the game (which we lost), we headed back to Mary's house for the night. It was nice to just relax after a long but incredible day. We talked a lot about a lot of things, and this was probably one of the highlights of the weekend. It was just really good. Then on Sunday we met two of my friends for lunch who were in Fort Wayne. One of them I hadn't seen for several months, so that was really good. Then after that I got to meet one of Mary's friends and we went out for ice-cream. Mary's parents, who had been gone for the weekend, got back in the afternoon and we talked with them for a little bit before heading back to Bluffton.

So yeah, just one of the most incredible weekends of my life. I feel so blessed with everyone in my life and everything that I have been given.

And then, as an added bonus, my 8:00 am and 1:00 pm classes are cancelled tomorrow. My professor, who teaches both, e-mailed and said he has the worst cold of his life and lost his voice. It's not good that he's sick, but it's good that I get to sleep in. Plus the same professor will be gone at a conference this weekend, so those classes on Thursday are cancelled too. It's nice to be able to sleep in on days like that... :)

Alright, well I should get to bed since I still do have a 9:30 class tomorrow. I hope you have a great week!

Until next time,

Scott

P.S. Lots of pictures today: first is me enjoying a bratwurst during our pre-game tailgating, next is a picture of Larry (Mary's brother) and Scott (Larry's friend) grilling, next is Mary and I at the stadium an hour before the game started, next is the Notre Dame football team running out of the tunnel before the game, and last is a video of a cheer during the game- if you listen closely you can hear our side of the stadium yelling "Go!" and the other side yelling "Irish!"