It’s Official…Eric is an Alumnus of the University of Notre Dame! – Sunday, May 16, 2010

After setting the alarm Saturday night post dinner & dorm room fun, for some reason I was thinking the 4am wake up call would not be an issue. Was I deluding myself that since I was now in close proximity to a college campus I would somehow through osmosis be remarkably spry like I was in college when I pulled all-nighters to study or a late night out on the weekend for fun?

Well, let me tell you...when the alarm went off at 4:00am, I felt like I was kicked in the head – quickly realizing that my theory of osmosis was in fact a crock.

So Larry and I managed to get ourselves together, rolled into Bob Evans at 6:00am for breakfast and were on campus shortly thereafter – we even “beat” the rest of the clan to campus!

We didn’t think it was that cold out, but as we were walking to the football stadium for the general graduation ceremonies, the wind started to kick up and we were freezing, so we walked back to the car to collect all the blankets we could for everyone – we May’s come prepared! :)

With blankets in tow we met up with the rest of the group and found some great, albeit very narrow, bleacher seats. Mom, Dad and Brett brought donuts and hot chocolate, which definitely hit the spot on a cold morning.

The bleachers started to fill up and the sun came out and suddenly it was hot!

There were quite a few graduates filtering into the stadium, so it took awhile, but it was just really nice seeing how excited everyone was.

The ceremony was lovely, but I have to especially mention the commencement speaker…Brian Williams. I have to tell you – Larry and I have always liked Brian Williams – great at reporting the news, funny on John Stewart and just seems to be an all-around good guy. Well, his speech was just fantastic! He was funny and serious and just a phenomenal speaker. I’m including the link to his speech – watch it…it’s great! http://video.nd.edu/305-brian-williams-2010-commencement-address

After the ceremony we took some photos as you can see here and then Mom, Larry and I went to lunch before meeting up with everyone for Eric’s actual graduation for his degree from the Mendoza School of Business – the number 1 ranked business school in the US!



The ceremony was great and it was really nice that we were a part of Eric’s special day.

After the ceremony we all took a walk around campus: seeing the library (Touchdown Jesus, Main Building, where Eric worked in the Admissions Office – with the phenomenal paintings, which took 17 years to paint, and the Grotto) – what a gorgeous campus. An interesting note about the "Hula Girl" - apparently the painter was tired of painting tassels in the painting and showed his sense of humor by painting her - you'd miss this creative detail if you looked quickly - Eric, thanks for sharing the history of the building with us!



We were also able to meet Eric’s girlfriend Emma – so that was a real treat too.

Then my feet gave out and the 4:00am wake up hit Larry and I and we all headed back to Illinois.

Eric – thanks for sharing with us this amazing weekend – we had so much fun!

We’re all very proud of you!