For as long as I can remember, literally (I was at my first game at just a few weeks old), I've been obsessed with Notre Dame football. Some of my very first words were the Notre Dame Fight Song, I can not even count how many home games I have been to or how many times I waited outside the stadium to see the players while I was younger. One of the reasons that I love Saint Mary's is because I never have to miss a football home game and I have been lucky enough to get to some away games too. And I am the luckiest person on the planet because of it.
This obsession runs in the family, my Grandpa, is the life-long President of the Notre Dame Class of 1968 (check out his Weyer for President bumper stickers). At every single Notre Dame home game, he and his fellow classmates/best friends have a tailgate that takes up an entire row right outside the stadium. They welcome everyone. As a young kid, I was always confused why people cheering for the other team would be eating our sandwiches but now it is one of my favorite parts. No one gets turned away at the tailgate. People come from literally all over; our family and friends, friends of friends, co-workers and now an entire group of Belles are always welcomed with open arms by the entire row.
The Great '68, as they like to be referred to, love Notre Dame. They were bonded by their time there and continue to share it with everyone they come in contact with. My grandparents gave me the love for Notre Dame football but they also gave me something else too, an entire second family. This Class of 1968 has been tailgating together since before I was born and I have been so unbelievably lucky to have grown up each fall with them. It's like having an unlimited amount of additional grandparents. They are always there to talk before games. They buy all the candy I like and they always make sure to ask how the Belles lacrosse team is doing. Each of them instilled a different type of love for Notre Dame within me. Some remind me to always pray at the Grotto on my walk over, some have taught me it's only acceptable to swear during a Notre Dame football game and yet they all have taught me much more than just football.
As the The Great '68 gets older and my last home football season as Belle starts I realize how truly lucky I am to have all of them in my life. They are the best type of extended family that anyone could ever ask for and I cherish every football Saturday I get to spend with them. Go Irish!
