A lot can change in five years.
Our kids can grow into adults.
A few of us can become Irish citizens.
And we can survive a global pandemic (…so far).
Five years ago I published a list of my favourite posts about life in Ireland. Since then my blogging slowed to a complete halt as we lived and naturalised and worked and went to grad school (and seminary) and moved and just tried to live. Here. In Ireland. These last 12-18 months have been our hardest, longest yet, and in this last lonely season of lockdown, we’ve come to realise a few true things:
We miss our family.
We miss our community.
And we really miss Ireland, even though she is right outside our front door.
So with that in mind, a revised list of my favourite Irish posts. Mostly for me, maybe for you, but a small reminder nonetheless of what life used to be like… and might still be again. xo
“Bring with you your songs, your music, and your stories,” Judge McMahon told us. “Someday your children and your children’s children will ask you about their grandparents and will inquire about the old country. Do not deny them their legacy.”
Day trip to Kilkenny (I think)
Flaneuring in Dublin with Djibouti Jones
Two women are headed my way as Cocoa and I are on the return trip home. They are Muslim, I assume, wearing the colourful headscarves I’ve grown accustomed to. Muslim immigrants, from North Africa and the Middle East, have come here. Eastern Europeans, Nigerian Christians, Indians and Asians, too. We have all come here, painting a different landscape. Ireland is so different than it once was.
At Home in Ireland (a 31-day series)
We're not between houses and countries anymore. We are putting down our roots near the river -- the River Liffey, actually. We are parenting and working and friending and barbecueing and, well, living.
We've been to the edges of our little island. Such cold and windy days, we have to be careful from falling straight into the sea. On these daredevil patches of land and rock and sand, I try to open my eyes to it. The gusts, the force, the might. I stand on a field of baby white flowers, they barely notice it. It's all I can do to keep upright.
Like this post? You can find more posts about our life in Ireland here.