Checking in

Vacation was great. The first evening I was sitting on the porch with a book on my chest wondering how long it had been since I was that relaxed. I mean I didn't worry about a thing all week. I don't think I ever felt grumpy, though I'm sure Janett could think of at least one occasion. We were happy and nice to each other the whole time and even the rainy days were nice. Janett and Kim and Steff would visit the little shops in South Haven and St Joes and Mark and I would trail along. Mom was still the mom, but the girls are grown up now, so it great seeing them enjoying each other as adults. Malachy was precious and precocious and we got to spend a lot of time together. We have a cute video of the little guy getting hit in the head with a basketball - funnier than it sounds. Maybe Steffy will post it. See Steffy's site for photos.(The Stangers link)

We got home to see Noah before he went back to Afghanistan. I don't know what to tell you about that. I enjoyed being with him, but my antennae were up and twitching trying to understand how and what he was feeling. He seemed like the same guy, and I don't think he's suffering any really bad feelings, but Noah isn't always easy to read. Anyway, when you're away and you come home, it's nice to feel that everyone loves you like you remembered that they did, and I think Noah felt that way.

Okay, ND only beat the Yellow Jackets by 4 points. And BQ didn't take charge of the game. His passes were a little off, maybe because Georgia Tech was getting a good rush and he was throwing off his back foot. We expect better things tomorrow against Penn State. I'm throwing in a picture from the last Penn State game in South bend, the Snow Bowl, 1988 I think. Penn State got a first down on ND's three yard-line and Notre Dame staged a great goal line defense. The Lions settled for a field goal and Notre Dame ended up winning the game by a point.