A wee bit of this...and a wee bit of that!

In August of 2001, my mom, brother, son, 2 nieces[one with her husband and mother-in-law] , nephew and wife, and I jetted off to Ireland for a week to visit the Homestead and meet with our Irish relatives. Jer and I met the rest of the group at the airport where my brother handed out green caps with a shamrock and our names embroidered on it. We checked in ,proceeded to the gate, and sat down awaiting the boarding call. And here it was:

"Flight # **** to Ireland is delayed due to a mechanical problem, and an announcement will alert you to its new departure time."

Oh great! They encouraged us to go and get something to eat while listening for the announcement. And the next message was:

"Flight 3 **** to Ireland's mechanical problem has been resolved, and we're going to take it out for a test fly. Boarding for departure will follow."

Taking it out for a safety test fly?? Who wants to hear that? Did they think that we would feel better about the plane with mechanical difficulties doing a test run?? And then boarding for a seven hour flight! OOPH!

Well, the plane returned, they deemed it safe, and we had to believe that the pilot wouldn't fly if he thought it would be his last flight. So, we boarded, and off to Ireland we went.

I never slept, but I can't sleep in cars, buses, planes, etc. anyway.
We rented a tank...I mean a car...to drive to our different locations. It was a red standard-shift boxy kind of vehicle and we had to remember to drive on the other side of the road. The roads were very, very narrow and when a bus or truck was coming at you, it seemed huge in its skinny lane. We began counting the number of cones that my brother came into contact with in an effort to avoid a close encounter!!

We checked into the first hotel, and Jer fell onto his bed with a clearer understanding of 'jet lag' and so he did a rendition of Rip Van Winkle for a bit. He was in for a bigger shock as we met for breakfast the next morning.

There wasn't very much that appealed to him, since he doesn't eat eggs, and other choices [black pudding sausage] were really offensive to him. On about Day 5, we stopped to get gas and Jer went inside to find something to eat. He came out with a package of donuts and apple cider and started singing, "My Country 'tis of Thee" in celebration of a real breakfast!!
The other snapshot in my mind in relation to breakfast was about Flo. She was 90 at the time and determined to keep up with everyone. She never did like to be rushed, and even though there was a deadline for breakfast, it was the last straw for her. The elevator door opened, and out she came kind of disgruntled. She spoke into my ear, "I don't even have a bra on!!" Well, I started laughing and said the, "I'm not laughing at you... I'm laughing with you. You just haven't started yet." It was quite the moment in time!!

To highlight a couple of events:

The Cliffs of Mohr were my favorite place to stand and admire Mother Nature's finest. Quiet and serene. The bluest of blue skies and the greenest of green patchwork quilt land areas. I turned around to say something to my son, and he wasn't there. As I scanned the area, there he was lying on his stomach on the edge of the cliff taking a picture looking down the cliff! Holy Mother of God! Even as an adult[22], kids still have the potential to scare the BeJesus out of you.

I was impressed with the overflowing window boxes of flowers, and the intensity of color that many houses were painted. Vibrant colors. And not just a few. And I remember thinking... what a big contrast to the colors of our American houses.

We visited the home of Waterford Crystal, and naturally the Blarney Stone was on the list of 'must go there' .The able bodied among us climbed all of those steps and were hung upside down from the fourth floor to kiss that famous piece of marble. Quite a feat!

Jeremy got to go to a 'hurling' semi-final, and he and Paul couldn't say enough about what a good time it was being among that crowd of animated fans cheering their team on with so much spirit!
I didn't even know that the sport existed!

We found the family homestead, broke bread at the homes of our Irish relatives, and managed to find the home of the cousin where 'the book' of years ago was kept. It had signatures of my grandmother and father when they visited in the late 30's. And signatures of my mother and brother when they visited in the '80's. It was kind of surreal, and 'movie-like' with the drama of finding that piece of our family history. Memorable, for sure.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

Spread some merriment along the path today.