Our very first date was in these stools at Cafe J. Though it was not immediately clear to me whether or not it was a real date, I did my hair "just in case."

The rain cleared soon after we ordered our coffees at Cafe J, and after a lap around campus, standing in the middle of South Quad, Hadyn asked me if we could maybe call every now and then. When I told him that I would like that very much, I don't think either one of us expected the many seven-hour phone calls that would follow (and continue as long as he lived in Louisiana and I in the midwest).

St. Mary's Lake and St. Joseph's Lake were an especially important part of that final semester at Notre Dame and our first spring together. From our first date, to long distance phone calls, to happy—and often serendipitous—weekends when Hadyn flew in from Louisiana, Notre Dame du Lac provided a beautiful venue in which to fall in love.

We owe quite a bit to St. Thomas More, Hadyn's confirmation Saint and the patron of lawyers. Only after Hadyn was received into the Church did he realize that he had been baptized on the great Saint's feast day 22 years before. This statue of St. Thomas stands over the doorway to Notre Dame's Law School.

Top of his class and full of promise

To South Bend he’d go, a fresh, young novice.

In a foreign place surrounded by tall trees,

He mightily missed the soft, sweet prairie breeze.

Where once there was only sky,

Now a strange Lady shone on high.

All golden atop her dome,

The Lady knew the boy still had to roam.

Over 70 years ago, my Nonno knelt at the Grotto and prayed for his future spouse, my Nonni, before he ever knew her name. On cold snowy nights, close to the sweet smell of candle wax, I copied his prayers. To Our Lady at the Grotto, I brought difficult exams, stressful applications, and even my future spouse, before I could pray for him by name.