One month ago, I was leaving Ireland after a whirlwind weekend bachelorette party. In just over a week, I leave for Ireland once more, this time for the wedding!
I have some thoughts on this trip…
It was an honor to be invited and included not only in the bachelorette (hen!), but to also receive a Save the Date and wedding invitation. Originally I thought I would be unable to attend the wedding because of school starting back up. Lucky for me, I am only required to report for school a couple of days after the wedding. This late start in September is about as late as it can possibly be I think, thanks to when Labour Day falls this year. This good fortune will likely be balanced out with a late end to Christmas finals, but it is totally, completely and absolutely worth it to be part of this incredible life event of two people I adore.
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When I returned from Ireland, my guy picked me up from the airport, and knowing I had just spent the weekend with 8 girls (7 of whom I had never met before), asked me if everyone was nice. “Yes,” was my reply.
“K, but there was at least one person you didn’t get along with, though, right?”
And with all sincerity, I could say, “Nope. Everyone was awesome.”
I have to say. I am getting a LOT better at keeping only the good people around, and then by association, they only have good people around, which translates into an exponential number of good people for me to call friends and acquaintances. (So, thank you Claire, for having awesome friends!)
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The other beautiful thing about going back to Ireland is that my guy will be joining me for the wedding, and we are turning it into a mini-vacation together. While I have been to Ireland a total of four times now, he has never been. I get to see the country through his eyes and enjoy whatever we do with the calm of being comfortable in the country and from having seen a big chunk of it already.
Ireland has always had a huge part of my heart, and I finally get to share that with him. He gets to see the green country where my family is from, sip is first Guinness from the source, hear the local music and stand on the edge of the world in Connemara. I can’t wait to share this with him. Normally, when I leave for school, it’s kind of like, “See you in four months or whenever I see you.” This time, it’s special. This time, it’s “See you in Ireland!”
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Before I set my plans for this summer, I was told I was “doing too much” and that I should choose one event, either the hen or the wedding. I’m really thankful that I decided to dive in completely, because I realized after I had such a blast at the hen night that if I hadn’t booked to go to the wedding, I would have been really sad to miss the event and to not see that wonderful group of girls again in such a great setting. Knowing this, things would have been similarly amiss if I’d only gone to the wedding; I would have enjoyed the wedding, but from a distance, watching from the outside, as friends drank and socialized and danced . This way, I get to be in the middle of the action, and I can’t wait.
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“I’d rather look back on life and say ‘I can’t believe I did that’ than ‘I wish I’d done that'” is a saying I’ve seen floating around the interwebs a lot lately. While these words speak to me, I find I am already looking back on my life (yep, all 30 years of it) and thinking to myself how I can’t believe some of the things I’ve done.
I know with absolute certainty that if I ever make it to 80+ years, I will be able to sit back with a pot of tea and chuckle to myself about all the things I’ve done. Although, I might not be sitting back… I might be bowling or scuba diving or flying to Japan. But I’ll still chuckle.
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