Mornings in Ireland; the time of day I often wish for a little more sleep, at the same time, elated by the endless possibilities the new morning has to offer. Everything is fresh and bright and it is never the same as the morning before it. It is a reset and although I do not wake up audibly singing like the birds, internally, I celebrate the new day and write, accompanied by the morning music. I am not as thrilled by mornings at home; the weight of life, constant derailment of my cancer, and a list of never ending tasks that never fully get accomplished, smother me. I do not gear myself up in excitement for the unknown adventure I am about have as I do here, in this safe haven; instead, I dread it and more often than not, fear it. It is definitely a ‘me’ problem and one I must make efforts to fix. I had a goal last year to take my new found love of mornings home with me, as they had brought me so much peace and calm. Although I succeeded throughout the remainder of the summer quite nicely, Autumn brought much anxiety that carried with me throughout winter and into spring, finally relenting, when our trip departure drew near. I switched mentalities from living each moment to the fullest and enjoying what life had to offer to being frozen by the thought of how much time, or lack thereof, I might have. Again, it is a ‘me’ problem, and I need to find a way to keep the peace I have found here, in this magical place, with me when I return home.

Instead of focusing on the past yesterday, and absorbing the history of Ireland, as we so often do, our family looked to the future. Audra will be entering her junior year of high school this upcoming fall, starting up just a few short days after we return home from Ireland, and will be embarking on her International Baccalaureate Diploma journey with the hopes of gaining acceptance to UCC; The University College Cork. Although she plans on applying to universities in the U.S. and a variety of others throughout Ireland to further her education after high school, UCC is her college of choice. At least for now; teenagers can be fickle creatures and mine is no exception. Yesterday afternoon we toured the campus at UCC led by a current fifth year who is working on completing her dissertation for her masters degree, along side a group of other interested teens and their parents. We learned all about campus life, housing, student activities, and spent time in a lecture hall soaking in all the information we possibly could to add to a pro/con list for later evaluation. Although the focus on the future was the goal of the day, in Ireland you cannot escape history and we also learned a small bit about the history of the college, founded in 1845, and marveled at the beauty of the original structure of the college that is still in use today. Regardless of where she eventually lands, to further her academic journey, she enjoyed the tour and had many of her questions about college life, answered.

We took aim at the more immediate future and brought the girls to the Mahon Point Shopping Centre where we spent a few hours engaging in back to school clothes shopping, as we will not have time for it upon returning home from Ireland. We marveled at the daycare center that is available inside the mall for shoppers to drop their children with qualified caregivers while they shop, and were fascinated by the very large grocery store, a Tesco, inside the mall as well. I love the concept of being able to get not only my clothes shopping completed, but also my grocery shopping all at the same convenient location and time. Both girls loved the excitement of the mall; from the loud music, activity, full food court and plethora of stores, all open and busy, quite different from our mall back home, to finding clothes they loved and could not live without. Although, it will be challenging to lug it all back home, I am grateful it is off my list of things to do in preparation for the upcoming school year.

We ate a quick lunch at the Cork English Market, a favorite place of our group, and picked up some strawberry jam and a freshly baked loaf of bread along with handmade soaps and market bags. The day was a break from the normal routine of ruins, castles, and stories from the past and filled with hopes and dreams for the future. We ended our evening with take-away dinner at home with pizza from Oristano’s and came up with our game plan for today. Kevin just brought me breakfast in bed, a delightful way to start the day, and it is time for me to get the kids up, but only after I finish my cup of tea.