Some Irish Luck!

My sister, Stephanie, certainly had some Irish luck! She won a contest from "Irish America" magazine for a trip for two to Ireland and she picked me to go with her. I couldn't believe it! I was in shock for about a week after she told me. I just couldn't process it. "I'm going to Ireland," I kept saying over and over again in my head, trying to get used to the thought. I couldn't believe it wasn't some distant hope anymore, that I was actually going to set foot on Irish soil.

Ireland has always existed as a place in my mind, more than anything else. I remember my fourth grade teacher in Michigan told our class to write reports on whatever we wanted, our curiosity was our guide. I chose Ireland (and the human brain, two topics of vital importance).  I made a topographical map of the island using homemade clay and wood as the base and I painted it green. I'm sure I had all the mountains and lakes perfectly proportioned.  I remember standing in front of the class talking about Ireland's natural resources.

Now I was going to meet Ireland in person. It's akin to the same nervousness that you feel when you find out you're going to meet a favorite writer whose work you've read since childhood. What if Ireland is not what I imagined it to be? Will I feel at home in the land of my ancestors? Will there be some recognition of this place, not just from the countless articles and stories I've read and the "National Geographic" photos I've poured over, but from some place deep in my bones, from my DNA? Speaking of genetics, I've always stood out as a redhead. I believe it's one of the reasons people have always referred to me as a "nice Irish girl." Will the people there look like me or will they just look like strangers in a distant land?

Wearing my green.

Toes too.

Gazing out the window at O’Hare International Airport at the Aer Lingus plane that’s going to take me to Ireland. Follow the shamrock.

Another photo of our Aer Lingus plane. I had butterflies in my stomach. I couldn’t sleep the night before and now here I was, looking at the plane that would take me to Ireland.

The Unicef envelope at my plane seat. Having even one of your wishes come true, gives you hope for a better world.

This is the packet that the Aer Lingus earphones came in! Shamrocks everywhere! I am so lucky!

I also just wanted to have fun on this trip, to embrace it wholeheartedly. Besides the important work of making travel arrangements, Steph and I decided to get green mani-pedis. She was sheepish at first, but then she chose the same beautiful, deep, unmistakable green as me.  It's not exactly as permanent as a tattoo, but they were no-chip manicures. It was with my green nails that I nervously held my tickets so tightly to my chest as I looked out a window at O'Hare Airport, at the green Aer Lingus plane that was going to take me across the ocean and to a land that now somehow felt like my destiny. It felt like my wishes, and maybe some divine intervention, had carried me to this moment. When Steph and I sat down in our seats on the plane, we immediately put some money into a Unicef envelope (https://www.unicef.ie/partner/aer-lingus/) in a spirit of gratitude for our good fortune.