Life After Ted is a blog about the loves of my life: my big fat extended family, teaching, writing, music, movies, photography, STL, ND, college football and hoops, Tootsie Rolls and traveling.

I named this blog in honor of Fr. Theodore Hesburgh. Fr. Ted died in 2015 at the age of 97 after serving several presidents, popes, foundations, international commissions and the University of Notre Dame. I met Fr. Ted for the first time when I was in high school. I worked as a waitress in the dining room of Notre Dame’s Corby Hall, a residence for priests and brothers. Despite his title of president of the university, Fr. Ted was very humble and down to earth. He’d come into the kitchen during breakfast and grab a piece of bacon off the stove and ask the cooks about their lives.

At the same time, he was a widely known and beloved public figure. Beloved by many because he loved everyone so deeply and shared his mind, heart and faith so fearlessly. On facing one’s fears, Fr. Ted once suggested, “Don’t, be afraid of life. Don’t be afraid of people. Don’t be afraid of yourself. Don’t be afraid of God. Fear of God is something that is respectful that we are so low and He is so high. But fear is not what He talked about. When you go through the Gospels, you have an awful lot of things in the Gospel about love and about caring and about being thoughtful and generous and kind and good. But I think you find very, very little about fear. And that’s a good thing.”

I’ve wanted to write a blog, a book, a screen play for years – and was always too afraid to do it. Would anyone read my writing? What would I write about? Would people enjoy or be challenged by what I would write? Would anyone care?

After Fr. Ted died, I decided to face my fears and launch the blog.

And so I dedicated my blog to Fr. Ted and to the many other courageous and now heavenly heroes who gave the gift of themselves so fearlessly, including my brother, David; my godfather – my Uncle George; my Granny and Grandpa Tripp; my Grandma and Grandpa; my Uncle Don; and my cousin, Matt; among many others.