"We just came back from Notre Dame football camp. It was our first time there! We got to go to the locker room, run on the field, and be coached by real football players and the coaches. And we saw Touchdown Jesus!"
"We love our school!"

"I did some work for the alumni association and am now the membership chairman of the Notre Dame club of Dallas. I'm not an alum; I'm a fan who loves everything Notre Dame stands for.
"Ethan attended kindergarten at a private school. There were seven students in his grade. For first grade, he attended a much larger public school where there were a hundred plus in his grade. Academically, he did just fine--but he did have challenges adjusting to the much larger school and surroundings. I was taking him to school one day, and he said, 'Daddy, I want to stay home.' I told him that I understood his concerns, but we would work through it. I told him that after school the next day, I would be standing on the painted US map near the door where he would emerge. Knowing my love for Notre Dame, he said, 'Meet me at Notre Dame!' We met there every Friday of his first grade year. He just turned 12 this month. He's applied for one of the seventh grade programs, which will hopefully be the start of a lifelong relationship."
"I visited Notre Dame for the first time in 2009. We got to see the locker room and run on the field. Everyone is so friendly--on campus and fans I meet. And I always looked forward to watching the football games on Saturdays with my Dad."

"The saddest day of my life was the day my husband died a year ago. I'm writing in this journal on my break. I started after he died. It helps hold me together."

"We're just visiting! We live in Las Vegas, but my husband is from Cambridge and was always a huge fan of the Irish. We took a day out of our vacation to visit today. It's beautiful here. I'm staying with this little one, and my husband is on the stadium tour right now. He's the kind of fan who cries with joy. We even met at a movie watch of Rudy."

"I've been a fan since I was knee high. I didn't make it in to Notre Dame, but I went to college about thirty miles north of here at Andrews. A year ago, I was at a basketball game with my grandson. An usher mentioned to me that spots for ushers were open. He gave me a name to contact and I'm now an usher. It took fifty years, but I'm finally here."

Seen at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

"My sister attended Notre Dame and my niece is an incoming freshman on the soccer team. We go to the Blue-Gold game every year. Our little guy would have worn his shirt but it's still too big on him. His dream is to play one of the Notre Dame drums--the big one."

"We met on our first day on campus. There was a group of boys smoking cigars out on the quad, and my friend dared me to whistle at them. So I stuck my fingers in my mouth and construction-worker whistled, then dashed to the side and hid behind a curtain. And they all turned around, started singing, got down on one knee--typical Frosh-O stuff. So then they decided to start an impromptu mixer in our dorm: they ran through the halls and cleared everyone out. He was holding the door when I walked out.
"We had the typical Notre Dame romance: we dated all through undergrad, he proposed at the Grotto, and we were set to be married in the Basilica. But then he was deployed to Iraq. So we had to wait, and just when the date was approaching, he was deployed again. The priest who married us said, 'Don't worry. Next time you don't have to go through the waiting list. I'll marry you any day.' And it was a beautiful ceremony."

"I was placed in Welsh Fam the first year that it was built. After four years there in undergrad, I attended law school at Notre Dame, applied to be an AR, and was placed in--you got it--Welsh Fam. When my younger sister attended, she lived in Welsh Fam, too! I had to be removed from the RA decision process during my last year because my younger sister was applying to be an RA. (She got it!) I recently met Mr. Welsh, and it was a fantastic opportunity, to meet someone who made it possible for your dorm to be built. I told him I'd lived in Welsh Fam for six years. And he said, 'You probably hold the record!'
"My parents came from a background of a high school education. All six kids went to college: the three boys went to Purdue, my older sister went to St. Mary's, and my younger sister and I went to Notre Dame. All three girls achieved graduate degrees. It's really a testament to my parents, to raise and support such high-achieving children."

"As a sophomore, I was a student manager; back then, we were managers for all sports...but in fall, it was all about football. One Saturday morning, I woke up and went through my drawers. But I couldn't find my uniform. So I woke my friends in a panic and said, 'We have to get that uniform.' So we headed to the laundry building behind the dome and--I'm not joking--broke in to find my laundry. We went through entire bins of laundry, looked through enormous washing machines, and finally, we found my bag. And it all worked. I went to the game that day and all was well."
           "Would you like me to take a picture of your monogram or watch, perhaps? When people share personal information, they often don't like a picture of their face on the blog."
"Nah, it's fine. You can take a picture of me. I'm reconciled with my story!"

"When I was applying to colleges, I was interested in Notre Dame, but I didn't apply because I didn't think my family could afford it. It was February 27th of senior year, and in conversation, my mother asked why I hadn't applied. I explained. The next morning, she woke me up and said, 'We're going to South Bend to get an application.' We drove to Notre Dame that day, February 28th, and asked the office for an application. I still remember the woman, Annie, who handed me the booklet. I leafed through it and was disheartened at all I had to do before March 1st: essays, letters of recommendation. But Annie said to me, 'Hang on a moment, honey,' and went to the back of the office. When she returned, she announced she'd gotten me an extension. I had fourteen days. And in that time, I wrote my essays, got a letter of recommendation, and sent the application in. I was accepted by April 1st, not even a month after applying. That was the start of a lifelong relationship with Notre Dame."