If I think back to 2005, this is a very different landing from that June day....when I felt all the uncertainties of a returning emigrant ....
An seú lá de mhí Mheithimh 2005
Arrival day in Dublin: Monday June 6, 2.
Here I am landed once again in Dublin. What a great word landed! It describes my search where is it that I need to land? Or be landed? This search began almost the day I left living in Ireland 45 years ago after my Father’s death. I exiled through Belfast on a hot summer day in June 1960. Today, I return in a different way from all my previous trips here. I am a pilgrim seeking what it means to live between two lands – idir dhá tire? Cén fad áith?
My plane was delayed leaving Chicago for over an hour and so I did not arrive in till after 10:00 a.m What is a little delay of an hour I have waited 45 years to do this! It is totally unclear to me what lessons I am to learn and what changes will occur in my life, what is only important at this point is that I start the journey.
Standing waiting for my bags, I recall looking at my watch and seeing it was 10:30, and thinking what am I doing? What do I intend for this journey? .....
As I come out the doors, there is Matt waiting off to the side in a sea of other faces ...... Walking out to the car, I say to myself slow down and absorb what it means to connect. I have a huge cloak to remove – the whole mantle of “getting things done” and being productive. More lessons to come I feel or is it fear?
This July day in 2010, I depart the plane with a knowing step, feeling I have come home again, all the while with one hand trying to get the mobile phone to work, and the other hand pulling my computer bag. I am muttering to myself as the battery is dead, and I have steps to climb. Walking along through the hallways, past the Vodaphone signs, down the stairs, and past the glass screen separating the US arrivals from the departing passengers already cleared for their returning US flight. Silent, solemn looking, a collection of strangers waiting for their flight. I am struck by the irishness of the faces through the lounge glass window. Finally passport control, more muttering my Irish passport was nt processed in time for this trip. I must go through the longer non-EU line.
Matt will be waiting (again) to pick me up, bless his heart. It is a work day for him. He needs to head off to a meeting with Dublin Council before 11. Our early landing will have helped if the luggage is off loaded in a timely way. Not for me. Finally my big red bag come through at the very end - loosing precious time with the longer wait. Loading up my baggage on to the cart, I make my way into the arrival hall, and immediately see Matt waving at me. Off we go to the car parking lot.
The traffic is heavy as we head in the direction of Central Dublin and Parnell Square to the side street where Matt's office is located. This side of Parnell Square is a mixture of old and new buildings, SinnFein, and Irish Trade Union offices line this side of Parnell Square. Matt's office is down a business lane with other new business model office sites, sort of incubator like buildings for artsy firms. Leaving my bags to go separate ways, he to his meeeting and me to walk over to the Hugh Lane Gallery as I wait for his meeting to finish and meet up for lunch near the Half'penny Bridge. There is an exhibition to see at the Hugh Lane: The Passion and the Politics - Sir John Lavery: The Salon Revisited
True to the pilgrim spirit, on my walk over to the Hugh Lane gallery, I meet a woman who is lost happening to be looking for the gallery. We talk on the way over. She is an artist from Longford. For the next couple of hours I completely get lost in the exhibition almost missing the time to meet up with Matt for lunch.
Later in the afternoon, we leave town for Ardee. It is pick up time at the creche...and time for play with Maeve and Connor till bedtime. Sleep comes very easily later that evening after a full day of travelling, arriving and connecting.
Matt will be waiting (again) to pick me up, bless his heart. It is a work day for him. He needs to head off to a meeting with Dublin Council before 11. Our early landing will have helped if the luggage is off loaded in a timely way. Not for me. Finally my big red bag come through at the very end - loosing precious time with the longer wait. Loading up my baggage on to the cart, I make my way into the arrival hall, and immediately see Matt waving at me. Off we go to the car parking lot.
The traffic is heavy as we head in the direction of Central Dublin and Parnell Square to the side street where Matt's office is located. This side of Parnell Square is a mixture of old and new buildings, SinnFein, and Irish Trade Union offices line this side of Parnell Square. Matt's office is down a business lane with other new business model office sites, sort of incubator like buildings for artsy firms. Leaving my bags to go separate ways, he to his meeeting and me to walk over to the Hugh Lane Gallery as I wait for his meeting to finish and meet up for lunch near the Half'penny Bridge. There is an exhibition to see at the Hugh Lane: The Passion and the Politics - Sir John Lavery: The Salon Revisited
True to the pilgrim spirit, on my walk over to the Hugh Lane gallery, I meet a woman who is lost happening to be looking for the gallery. We talk on the way over. She is an artist from Longford. For the next couple of hours I completely get lost in the exhibition almost missing the time to meet up with Matt for lunch.
Later in the afternoon, we leave town for Ardee. It is pick up time at the creche...and time for play with Maeve and Connor till bedtime. Sleep comes very easily later that evening after a full day of travelling, arriving and connecting.
