This is how it began.

It's 20 til 9 on a Saturday night. I'm heading out the the pub to hear some Irish music and think about my trip. In just over two weeks, I'll be leaving for Poland. It's a week for me in Warsaw, and then off to Dublin, where I'll meet up with my friend Abby to spend two weeks in Ireland. We plan to spend the first week in the North, and the second week in the south. We won't be planning a lot more than that.



Abby is the next younger sister of my best friend, Hannah. The idea for this trip was born out of some daydreaming as a group of us listened to some of my favorite trad musicians play some of my favorite Irish songs at my favorite Irish pub. Two good friends of mine are getting married this May in Poland, and they invited me. I thought how wonderful it would be if I could go to their wedding, and then just stop in Ireland on the way back. You know, to save on airfare. Right? Hannah went to N. Ireland with me in 2007, and Abby has travelled before but has never been there. We all got excited, as people with Guinnesses occasionally do. The topic came up again from time to time. "Wouldn't it be great if...?" The next thing I knew, Abby was texting me, saying, "I hope you don't mind that I'm telling everyone that this is happening." Did we speak it into being?


I can't explain how I feel about this trip. How did it work out so perfectly? How on earth did I get three weeks off work? Once I realized this was happening, I kept getting little affirmations along the way. An old man who would periodically come in and ask how my planning was going (though I never remembered him). A prophet shouting "Ireland!" in the middle of a meeting. The Chieftains playing in Dublin on our last night there. And many other tiny hints that this is going to be — not easy, not cheap —real and incredible.


I intend to post pictures here during the trip. And, because it would be kind of wasteful to create a blog just for one event, maybe I will continue it when I actually move over there. (If I say this enough, maybe it will happen, too.)


Come back during the second week of May and see where I am. Don't let me get away with not posting. I paid too much for this new camera not to share some photos with you.


So very much love,


CLB