Sadly, I’ve only been to Ireland once, and I was about fourteen when I travelled there with my mother for our first big trip abroad. It was an adventure, to be sure, and I think we both caught the bug for travel on that trip, and it’s remained with me to this day. My mom, God rest her, was ready to go on a moment’s notice. She loved to travel, and together with her children, she got to see a good part of the world and made several trips to Ireland, our ancestral homeland.
I have a little souvenir from my trip to Ireland, and, strangely, I came across it just this morning. We didn’t have much spending money as I recall, but back then we didn’t need much either. My mom had an artsy streak to her, and with a steady hand and amazing handwriting, she wrote in a little sea shell, barely an inch across, “Co. Waterford- Irish Sea, July 1978.” Where did those 38 years go?
I was glad to come across this little memento this morning. Surely, my mother prompted me to find it, to remind me our trip and bring a smile to my face.
I hope you are blessed to have memories of travel adventures. Aren’t we blessed to live in a time when we can visit places our ancestors could only dream of? Yes, I think we are. But as the old song goes, in the end “there’s no place like home.”
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
