Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.
In our final hours in Ireland, the end of day 12, we all went out to the Indian restaurant. I don’t recall the name, but it was near the Town Hall Theatre, and it’s a damn good Indian restaurant, unlike the one in Dublin. We were the loud, obnoxious group of 15 Americans. It was a lovely birthday dinner. Actually, I had a pretty good birthday — had two rounds of singing, and the kids all chipped in and got me an Aran sweater. I knew I was getting it, because they asked me to pick it out, so of course it was in the most excellent taste. Jeff got a surprise. The kids had consulted me on the beautiful walking stick and Irish cap they gave him, and he was thrilled. It was a lovely moment of gratitude. Which brings me to comment on what wonderful kids we had on the trip. I joked to the Ard Einne innkeeper that they were MY thirteen children. The kids later commented that 1980 and 1981 were BIG years for me. These kids are smart, polite, talented, adorable, grateful, and most of all, fun!
We woke early the next day, had our last crappy breakfast, and got ready to go. When we met up at the breakfast place with suitcases in tow, we saw a lovely luxury bus waiting to take us to the Shannon airport. Alas, that bus was broken, and we had to instead pile into the 18 seater Corrib Village shuttle van. As the driver loaded the luggage into a precarious pile, my worry hormones kicked in. But we made it to Shannon okay.
What can I say? We had lunch, got on the airplane, and had a fairly uneventful flight. Most of us got to sit together, which was a big plus. Once we got to JFK, we sat on the runway for about 1.5 hours, tedious, yes. Finally we disembarked, went through customs, and found the K-O vans. We came home to happy parents and a sweet fiance who brought me flowers and birthday mini-cakes.
While we had some issues from time to time, the overall trip was great. I am so glad I went, because it was an affirming experience and a much needed break from wedding planning. I missed Sujal boatloads, so we have been spending lots of time together. Please see the above post.
The Connecticutian 