Fulfilling a Childhood Dream

As a young boy, I remember falling in love with the game of football, especially college football. Some of my fondest childhood memories was going to Louisiana Tech football games with my dad and playing Nerf football in the backyard with my brother and all my friends. During the 80’s, three college teams stand out in my memory: Florida State University (coached by Bobby Bowden), Notre Dame (coached by Lou Holtz), and the University of Michigan (coached by Lloyd Carr). With Notre Dame winning a National Championship in 1988, they solidified their place as #1 in this young boy’s mind. I frequently wore Notre Dame T-shirts, baseball caps, and many Saturdays you could find me watching them play their games on NBC. 

Several months ago, as we were planning our travel route for the sabbatical, I realized we would be driving through the Detroit and Chicago area on our way to Nebraska. I made the request to Amanda that, if possible, I would like to see Notre Dame since South Bend, Indiana was on our route. She was, of course, more than excited to take this quick detour to visit one of my favorite universities (and football stadiums). The night before our trip from Detroit to Davenport, Iowa I realized the location of our hotel would also have us driving through Ann Arbor, Michigan. So, we decided to wake up a little early to visit both the University of Michigan AND Notre Dame! 

University of Michigan

Notre Dame football stadium

It was surreal to visit both of these iconic stadiums on the same day. This was compounded by the fact that I had not seen either of them before. While I wasn’t allowed to walk onto the field at either stadium, we did get the kiddos out at Notre Dame and spent 30 minutes walking around the campus. It was pretty special to see the various famous places on campus, such as the Touchdown Jesus mural painted on the side of the library that faces the stadium, statues of past coaches and players (Knute Rockne and Lou Holtz), and the plaques and banners on the campus that display Notre Dame’s rich tradition. It was also neat to hold my young son’s hand as we walked hand-in-hand to the stadium. I know that my young children didn’t fully grasp where they were or what they were seeing, but one day, we can show them pictures and tell them stories about the day we visited Notre Dame’s beautiful campus.    

Touchdown Jesus mural

Walking hand-in-hand with Aaron on Notre Dame campus 🙂

TOUCHDOWN!