This weekend I went home, to Bloomington, to see my family and some aunts, uncles and cousins, who had come to town from out of state.

For some of my relatives, this weekend was maybe the first time they’d seen them since last summer, the week everybody came to Bloomington for my grandma’s funeral.

This weekend, my aunts (my dad’s sisters) came to town to visit with their dad (my grandpa), and to catch up with everybody else.

A lot has happened since last summer, at least with my parents and siblings.

My brother is moving full speed ahead at his new job at State Farm. My sister has finished her freshman year at Illinois State University – and decided to transfer to a school in California. I became the editor in chief of this newspaper. And my parents have started planning (or thinking about planning) a trip to Ireland next summer.

There were a lot of stories to share, a lot of news to talk about, a lot of laughs to be exchanged, and a lot of food to be consumed.

While this weekend’s visit wasn’t one from all of my dad’s brothers and sisters, it was still just as fun (he also has two brothers who didn’t make the trip, and another sister who already lives in Bloomington).

As the weekend progressed, the best times were when we where we were all together and got to listen to old stories my grandpa told us.

One of the stories that immediately caught my attention was about sports.

The McNamee clan may not completely agree on our favorite professional baseball team, football team or basketball team, but we do agree on one university and its football team – Notre Dame.

I may take a lot of heat from the other sports editors I’ve had while being at the DEN for being a Notre Dame fan, but I don’t bend or break.

Blue and Gold is in the McNamee blood, and nobody knows Notre Dame like we do.

My grandpa grew up in South Bend, Ind. (later attended the Univeristy of Notre Dame). He told us a story about how he used to go to about one Notre Dame game a year when he was a growing up.

While Notre Dame tickets are some of the hardest to come by these days, my grandpa informed all of us of a much simpler time – without StubHub, Ticketmaster or eBay.

He told us he and his father used to be able to walk up to the ticket gate at Notre Dame Stadium and ask for tickets, in any seat.

Wherever they wanted to sit, he said the tickets cost them about $2 apiece (this was in the 1930’s and 40’s).

For the past couple months I’ve been looking for those $2 tickets to Notre Dame football’s season opener at home against South Florida.

No luck. The cheapest I’ve found might be in the mid-$70 range.

My grandpa’s story might not jump out at anybody else, but it’s a sample of the kinds of stories you can take from your family (in this case my grandpa).

This is why it’s important to take advantage of opportunities to see all of your family. You never know what kinds of stories you’ll hear.

I have aunts and uncles from Florida, California, North Carolina, Indiana, Montana, and Illinois. I never know what to expect from their visits, but there’s always a bunch of great memories and stories I take from them.

Alex McNamee is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected]