A big day for Ellen and all of us

Back in 2006, Ellen was getting ready to graduate from the University of Minnesota with majors in sociology and history and with a minor in Chinese.  It seemed out of nowhere one day that she was offered a graduate student position at the University of Notre Dame that included funding for her to earn both her Master's and PhD degrees.  So began our seven year connection to Notre Dame!  We have all the t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies; we've watched Rudy whenever we saw it was on TV or video; we are loyal fans of ND football games and watch them on NBC every Saturday when they are broadcast; and, of course, there were several trips down to Notre Dame to visit.  Who knew this would ever happen?

And today with Ellen's graduation we'll close the door on that "parent" connection we had to Notre Dame as Ellen opens the door to her life as a Notre Dame alumna.  This afternoon we took one last walk around campus, looking for photo op locations and also seeing some of the sights one more time.

I made Ellen stand in the middle of Notre Dame Avenue with the Golden Dome, located on top of the Main Building (that's what they call it), in the background.  Except for that one car, it was safe for all concerned.

Here she is emulating Knute Rockne's stance by his statue outside of the football stadium.  Knute was smiling and so was she.

Visible from the football stadium is this mural of the Jesus, known as "Touchdown Jesus," on the wall of the Hesburgh Library.  Here's what Wikipedia says about Touchdown Jesus:

The stadium is known for its view of "Touchdown Jesus", a nickname given to the large mural entitled The Word of Life byMillard Sheets of the resurrected Jesus.^[6] Installed in 1964 on the Hesburgh Library, the mosaic wall looms over the stadium, mirroring the raised arms of a referee signifying a touchdown. The expansion of the stadium in the late 1990s partially obscured the view of the mural from the playing field. The Word of Life mural was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Howard V. Phalin of Winnetka, Illinois.

And a close-up.

And here are Sara & Ellen, our two "Doctor" daughters.  As I said up above, who knew this would ever happen??