We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we stand and know the place for the first time.¹⁹

We start the return trip home after our morning ritual: Starbucks. I’m ambivalent about going home. But, we have to get back tonight so we can pick up the dog in the morning from the pet resort. She’ll be fresh-smelling and shiny new after a bath and grooming. And, she’ll have plenty of wet kisses for her moms. Thinking of her, our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel—Happy—makes me smile. I love that little dog with the domed head.

But happy thoughts fade as I consider the weight of this journey nearly ended and the daunting task of making sense enough of it all to share with others. As Joseph Campbell reminded me in my preparation for this trip, it is the final step in any journey, any pilgrimage, any experience of the Mass: to bring something back to the community. In the returning to everyday life, some new meaning or purpose gained on the journey transforms how we approach the profane with a renewed understanding of the sacred. However, the true pilgrim must acquire wisdom from her journey before she can impart anything to others.²⁰

As I look back over the past three days filled with the smell of hops from the ethanol plant in nearby South Bend; the gritty, dusty feel of Notre Dame's many construction projects; the smooth, rich taste of chocolate; the sound of church bells and cheering fans; and the gold and blue with hints of green in every sightline, what does it all mean as the campus fades in the rearview mirror?

Sitting in rush hour traffic on the north side of Nashville, we listen to NPR and learn Obama has been invited to give the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. Already there have been cries of outrage and predictions that this will be more destructive than the fire of 1879 that nearly wiped the campus off the face of the map forever.²¹

I suspect Father Sorin is rolling over in his grave, not because Obama holds some views that are contrary to the Catholic Church's teachings, but because people continue to confuse the sacred and the profane. What is sacred to one can be profane to another, and what is profane to one can be sacred to another. The determining factor is how much power we place in each and how much that power lifts up or tears down ourselves and one another.

At the end of the road, at the end of the day, we return to our home in Nashville, Tennessee, with dirty clothes, empty Coke Zero cans, melted South Bend Chocolates, pages of MapQuest directions now crumbled and torn, weary bodies and minds—tired and stiff from eight hours in the car. We return with more than we took. I have a new Notre Dame t-shirt, and ... a new appreciation for the sacred and the profane.
  

Captions and Credits:
(Top) Princess Happy Go Lucky, our dog. (Bottom) Printed announcement in the South Bend Tribune about the fire of 1879 at the University of Notre Dame, courtesy of Notre Dame. (Audio) Notre Dame Fight Song sung by the Notre Dame Glee Club, courtesy of Notre Dame.