We’re watching Rudy. It’s my favorite film: Against the odds, an underdog from the wrong side of town gets into Notre Dame to play football. I identify strongly with the protagonist working hard with limited resources towards impossible dreams. Home for winter break from my second year at my third-choice college, I check the mail during commercials. The William & Mary transfer envelope is thick; Dad notices right away. Commercial break over, Rudy opens his last-chance letter. “Congratulations, you have been approved … for acceptance … oh, thank God.” Dad watches my tears come, gently prods: “Well, you gonna open it?"
Melissa Ridley Elmes is a Virginia native currently living in Missouri in an apartment that delightfully approximates a hobbit hole.