Nice Gifts From Notre Dame

Aunt Jean shows off a few of her nice gifts from Notre Dame University.

The Showtime series, "A Season with Notre Dame," provided an incredible, behind-the-scenes look into how the Fighting Irish went after a national championship on the football field this year.

I watched a few episodes and immediately knew that Aunt Jean would appreciate the show as well. So I took my iPad down to her a few months ago and she took it in as well. Unfortunately, the season did not go as well as Notre Dame had hoped and the Irish fell short of being one of the top four in the nation and making the playoff.

But along the way, I wrote an email of appreciation to Senior Associate Athletics Director John Heisler. I thanked him for opening up the school's football program to a documentary crew. To my surprise, he wrote back and later wrote back again, asking if Aunt Jean would like something from the school. ("Of course," I wrote back.)

So that led to a surprise package showing up recently for Aunt Jean. She was treated to a variety of very cool keepsake items, including the "Play like a champion" towel and pennant pictured above. What an amazing – and totally unexpected – surprise. Go Irish!