The Little Bird Flies Home

We drove out to OH this weekend to see Butterly. I have missed not seeing my girl in two months! I could not wait.

The trip from our home in IL to her college in OH can take 5 peaceful hours or 6 stressful hours, depending on the day of the week and the time of the day and the phase of the moon. This time it was the latter. We hit tons of congestion through Chicago, a bottleneck in Gary, and then came upon myriads of Notre Dame peeps near South Bend. We stopped at a rest area for lunch, and it was jammed with Domers on their way to a game. Being in a place with a bunch of Notre Dame alums at the same time tends to make me cranky. And here’s why: I went to Illinois Wesleyan University, which is a fine school and was a wonderful experience for me. But during my Senior year, my brother began going to Notre Dame, which was my father’s favorite college ever. He was a bit obsessed with it. So then it was all Notre Dame attire and Notre Dame memorabilia all over their house, and Illinois Wesleyan Who?? And I thought I was done with all of that after my bro graduated. But then I happened, by chance, to marry a Notre Dame alum, who came from a Notre Dame family. And, during the early years of our courtship, we hung out with all Super Hubs’ Notre Dame friends. So again it was Notre Dame Pride all the time everywhere I turned, and Illinois Wesleyan who??

Seeing all the rah rah Notre Dame fans crowding the rest area and and then jamming the freeway made me irritated and slowed down our journey. But it was all worth it when I finally got to hug my baby girl once again! We hung out in her dorm room and met her awesome boyfriend, then did a little shopping. Later, we took the two of them out for dinner, along with her roommate. And, over wings and Buffalo fries, they spontaneously decided to come back to IL with us the following day. They had three days left of Fall break.

So it’s been great having Butterly and her two college friends fill our home for the past few days! I’ve enjoyed cooking for them and hearing their boisterous banter. And it has been so comforting to have all three of my children sleeping under our roof for the first time in a few months. It makes my world feel right again.