The Honor Was Mine...

happy1
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 01:35:35 +0000

We have lovely neighbor – a gentleman who was born in the house he still lives in – he was probably in his early 60s when we move in 20+ years ago. He never married but his sister who is a nun came by and they often had dinner together. They are both absolutely lovely but most people ignored them because they were not entrenched in the local schools and other typical activities of homeowners in town.

We had them for dinner, they were always wonderful to our kids – in short they are friends and neighbors. It came out quickly that the gentleman is a huge Notre Dame fan from his childhood (although he attended a different college). He seemed to know everything, especially about the old teams. My H who is a ND alum so they often discussed the state of the team. So when my H got tickets to a Notre Dame game at the Meadowlands and I had no particular interest in going, I suggested he invite our neighbor. Well, he was excited beyond words to see the team he so loved play in person.

A few days later, I saw his sister and she said he couldn’t stop talking about the game and what a thrill it was. I asked what her brother would think if he could actually go to go out to Notre Dame for a game. Her response was “it is more than he could hope for in life”. So we sprung into action. I mean if we could make a wonderful man’s “more than I can hope for in life” come true, it felt like we should do it. So the next year we got tickets for a game in South Bend and airplane tickets for him and my H. We went over and asked what he was doing on (whatever the date was) and when he replied that he would probably be watching Notre Dame play, we gave him the tickets and asked if he would like to see the game at ND Stadium – his eyes welled up almost immediately. My H went out with him, they stayed with a friend of my H and it was a wonderful experience for all. (PS My H took him back a second time as well). Now well into his 80’s and recovering from heart surgery, he recently told me that the trips to ND were among happiest things he has experienced in his life.