Somewhat Irish Girl

Ireland is where I’ve gone every year I’ve been alive. It’s the familiar smell of dampness, old musty pubs, and wafts of BO that you just don’t get in the states. It’s spending hours in town people watching and listening to the musicians on Grafton street, stopping every hour or two for a coffee or a tea and transitioning to alcohol as the day carries on.

Ireland is the surprising burst of green each time it comes into view from the plane window. It’s the satisfaction of walking until your legs might fall off, then sitting down to a perfect dinner of seafood chowder, fresh thick chips with salt and vinegar and a pint of Guinness. It’s moving snails from the walkway in front of the house to avoid the agonizing crush when one ends up underfoot.

Ireland is day trips to nooks of raw beauty just outside Dublin. It’s being so tired from the flight that you fall asleep on the DART and wake up three hours later on the last stop. The stop that isn’t yours. It’s long walks on cold endless beaches with nowhere to be. Just to be.

Ireland is sitting on stone walls in sideways rain waiting for the train to come. It’s finding any flat surface to fall asleep on while waiting for the adults to leave the pub. It’s special treats like marshmallow flogs and 99s and Cadbury chocolate from corner stores.

Ireland is the intensity of rival counties playing in the all Ireland hurling or Gaelic football final. It’s crazy aunts who never forget a birthday and who appreciate a good dirty joke more than anyone I know. It’s the escape I needed when things were hardest.

Ireland is making the trek to the west to climb Croagh Patrick rain or shine. It’s visiting my grandparents’ grave in the oldest abbey in Europe. It’s getting to know my mom in a way I never could have had I only known her in America.

Ireland is staying in the family house with no frills like central heating or a dryer for our clothes. The house that I eventually worked tirelessly to buy and renovate and keep forever—to make sure i can always visit the place that will always mean the most.