Ireland

I mentioned a few times on this blog that I am going to Ireland this year.  This is how it happened...

My friend Andrea is turning 50 this year.  I mentioned to her that we should do "something big" for it!  I suggested London for a longish weekend.  She poo pooed my idea.  "I've already been to London."  Oh, ok, nevermind then.  Discussion over.  Then she comes to me a few weeks later and says "You know, I've been thinking about your trip idea and I want to do it now.  How about Amsterdam?  I've always wanted to go."  I said, "that sounds great.  I've never been out of the country so I'll go ANYWHERE!"  As I started researching Amsterdam she kept coming up with other ideas.  She finally said, "what about Ireland?  Yes, Ireland it is!"  So it was decided.  What Andrea wants, Andrea gets.

We booked our trip in March and we have been waiting patiently ever since.  We fly into Dublin, stay for 2 nights.  Drive over to Galway, stay for 2 nights.  Drive down to Limerick, stay for 2 nights.  Then back to Dublin for one night and fly out the next morning.  There are about a gazillion things on our to do list.  Hopefully, we'll actually accomplish most some of them.  The other day we were texting about the trip and I just had this wave of total excitedness come over me and texted her "WE'RE GOING TO BE PARTYING IN DUBLIN!!!!  AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"  Needless to say, we are both super excited for this trip.

I've been having stress dreams for months already about the trip.  It's always the day we have to leave, like our plan takes off in an hour, and I'm completely unpacked.  So I start to pack but I can't find anything I want to bring!  I've also had a few where Andrea has totally been "blah" about going.  In one dream, she suggested that if we missed our flight we could "always just to go Naples for the week".  I yelled at her "No, we're not going to fucking Naples for the week!  We're going to fucking Ireland, why are you not understanding HOW AWESOME THAT IS!!!!"  Anyone care to interpret?

It's a little bitter sweet for me though.  Ireland was a destination that Joe and I always talked about going to together.  Several years ago, we even looked into moving there!  Joe was researching the job market to see if he could get a job there.  I started looking into where we would live and how the education system worked.  Another one of our plans we just never followed up on.  I imagined our kids growing up with cute little Irish accents.  Oh well, I guess it was for the best.

Erin go bragh, y'all!