To Eire is human, to visit Divine...



       If all goes well, in 48 hours I'll be on a flight with my 92 and 85 year old aunts heading to Dublin.  My two daughters - Favorite Oldest Daughter and Favorite Youngest Daughter - will meet us there Sunday morning.  It is a journey of the heart and spirit for three generations of Brennan/Sullivan women (sans my sister who is unable to join us so we will make her pay in other ways SOON). 

       It would be great to discover some of our Celtic ancestors, our auld family on the auld sod, maybe finding traces of where they lived and what they did to make a living 160+ years ago.  But we don't have the budget of the NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are" tv commercial for Ancestry.com.  So we're going because the older aunt wanted to gift the younger aunt with a visit to Ireland where she has always dreamed of going. I helped with the arrangements and both FOD and FYD jumped in. We're doing a "highlights" tour, circling southwest of Dublin, back up a bit and then down, up and around to Dublin again in 5 days. Lots of time in a bus and a few pubs along the way. To Galway, Blarney Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Waterford, and other places hither and yon.

      

       I expect we'll make a few connections to the nectars of the Emerald Isle ~ some Guinness, some Harp, a little Jameson's or Bushmill's. My aunts are ready for their sips of Bailey's and Irish Coffee!  And might there be a wee bit of song? Depends on how much nectar we consume.  I grew up with a lot of Irish and American/Irish music as a child in my family and there are times when I even remember a fair amount of it, much to the daughters' chagrin. I'll have to take special care that I don't turn them 40 shades of green!

       I feel beyond blessed - being able to share this trip with my two aunts and my two married daughters - a true trip of a lifetime, of several lifetimes! And I have to say that all of my spiritual juices feel an extra bounce when I'm wandering in Celtic territories. I experience a visceral connection to the energy of the places where those of my blood lived, and breathed and had their beings. 

       Being there with those who live and breathe and are important beings in my heart now requires a level of language and articulation I do not have.  It is a dream I didn't know I had and could not have ever imagined.  I will savor each and every moment for the rest of my cognitive existence.   And of course I'll tell you EVERYTHING (mostly)!  Stay tuned....perhaps some posts from the road???