ellie wakes up the echoes

what a glorious morning! firstly, i feel immensely better. now i may be phlegmatic psychologically (i actually have no idea what that means), but not physically. but more importantly -- my beautiful, intelligent and obviously discerning daughter has discovered notre dame! she first glimpsed the golden dome on tv during football season last, and she jubilantly licked bushmills from the tip of pop's finger every time the irish left the gridiron w/ a win. ok, ok, so she was in no danger of succumbing to alcoholism in light of the misfortune that befell blue and gold last season (just wait'll next year!). indeed, the first song to caress her ears as a newborn was the nd fight song.

but i digress. on this most glorious morning, her ma happened to be letting her wander throughout the maze of child-endangering objects and pitfalls that is our humble abode, and ellie grace's eye happened upon a picture on a foolisly low (ergo, child-endangering) framed picture of a phrase in bas relief above the east entrance to the sacred heart basilica on nd's campus. my friend john mcmahon gave me the picture, and i treasure it. it reads, simply: "god, country, notre dame." ellie's response to so thrilling a sight: immediate and uncontrollable bouncing and arms waving about in ecstasy, as if to indicate, "let's us shake down some thunder, pop!"

now, anybody got a hundred grand or so to pay for her to attend god's favorite university?