Dublin Airport departure gate.

The day came around as it always does and after a very pleasant 9 days in which the time did not fly by as most holidays do and it seemed like a solid 9 days.
A lot was done in those 9 days the first night being the Saw Doctors and I surpassed all expectations of how the day would go. The started with saying good bye to Jill and ended with saying good night to Vinnie Mc Mullen some 17 hours later and I was mostly awake for all of it, in between there was my fellow flight passengers in row 34 D/E/F making an already bad flight worse by their thigh fat encroaching onto my alloted seat and then there was my family and then there was Colm and the gig and an auld taxi driver with a tour of Dublin and we only had to get to the Eleanora pub and then there was Mick Walsh, Leigh and Richie Micheau, and Vinnie and Colm. The rest of the time was spent with family and visiting such places as Pheonix Park and the Dublin Zoo and Glendalough.

If I am being truthful I had found the preceding year without any actual meetings with my family very toughas they had not been able to get over to America in the last year with my mother retiring and stuff like that that. It was a tough time not withstanding the attention that Jill and Marc give to me, they are the best Wife and Son I could ever hope for. Last year had been tough to say goodbye and this time would only be slightly easier. As it went down we did not have enough time to hang around and I found it easier to quickly but sencerly say goobye to all that had come to send me off. In everyone's own way I could tell that they had missed me and genuinely will miss me until we all meet up again. It is a big regret that I could not get to see a lot of you in person as time was a real enemy on the trip...those of you at Repro (and you know who you are) I would have loved to have done a chip run or even play a game of don...if I was allowed -although I seriously doubt that.!!!

I later had heard that they could still see me as I passed through the security scanner check and placed my shoes back on my feet...if only I would have looked back one more time. Laden with gifts from Ireland for family and work I set off for gate B34. I remembered the satisfaction of landing on Irish soil and for now at least for a year I bid Ireland a fond farewell. Jaysus I do wax lyrical don't I.