Mom is nearly 96. She has congestive heart failure but a strong enough genetic background so that it is a long slow slide. She is just now becoming unable to stand up on her own. She sleeps most of the 24 hours and my "job" [spiritual duty to both her and God] is to simply sit with her for 5 to 6 hours each day. There is nothing joyful about this other than knowing that when she does not wake up one of these times, she will be with God. It is a hard card to be dealt to sit each day watching your Mom slowly die, but it simply is the absolute spiritual task God has asked, and I do it without questioning His demand. My life as an ND grad and a prof has been so privileged that He wants to see if there's anything REALLY to my soul it seems. As we say as the Fighting Irish: failure is not an option. And you guys [who I apologize for boring with this] can see why I find it a little difficult to get excited about what recruit de-commits, what Kelly does or doesn't do, what the latest "tweet" might portend.
An old lady who was/is a lifelong Notre Dame fan, and who married a Notre Dame grad at the campus Log Chapel, is about to pass to God. She would take great delight to see our next young supermen take the field and "when that Irish line goes smashing through, they sweep the foeman's ranks away": a song she still sang. I think that it's likely that she won't see this next season though, except from a seat very high up.
