From Ireland on election day!

It gives me a world of hope.

We were supposed to go this year. Thankfully we had no reservations so didn’t have to worry about getting our money back.

Will you tour the whole country or do you have a specific destination(s) in mind?

I went around counter clockwise.

This time I want to spend loads of time in West Cork where my family are from.

Don’t have a specific agenda but will take advice from cousins in country.

I like Dublin but I love the wilder west coast of Ireland. Been to Dublin twice. That’s enough.

They don’t want us there right now though.

turns out i have cousins allllll over.
i may need a month. i want to visit all the graves i can find.

i was surprised to learn that my grandparents are buried less than a mile from where i live.
i had driven around and sat in that cemetery many times, but i never noticed till yesterday that it is almost all IRISHMEN.
i had wondered if they regretted not being buried back home, but they are sure hell surrounded by their countrymen. dont think i saw but 5 names that werent irish.
and it sits right on lake michigan. it's rly beautiful.

All 6 kids in my family have done theirs except one sister.

Through Ancestry I met an awful lot of cousins. Most are in Wales now but I found one in Ireland who is a pretty good genealogist for West Cork.

in fact, i am more irish than most of the cousins i have found that were born there.
i wish they would take that as proof of citizenship. but it's fun tracing the tree.

you can become a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, if you have documentation of the lineage leading up to you.

tho at this point, after looking up all the characters in the rebel songs, i think i could test in.

found out i am descended from a sibling of michael dwyer, too.

that Americans care how Irish they are. I'm obsessed with genealogy and DNA tracing.

Sad though, that DNA is the only way some of us can prove that we came from Ireland and can trace back to relatives there. My maiden name is so common in Ireland it was nearly impossible to track down my real family over there until they came out with DNA.

I don't know about you but my Irish relatives (Grandpa & great uncles) that came over here NEVER wanted to discuss Ireland or how and why they came to the United States. Made them too sad and they were very private people who didn't believe in dredging up and reliving hard times.

tho my da had a perfect brogue.
my aunt did do a family tree for da's side, but she totally left out their mom's side of the family.
there were 11 of them! never met a one.
about half of them stayed in wis, about a 2 hrs drive, but a bunch of them moved to chicago and i never me a one.
they all had a boodle of kids, too.

i sure learned that that irish grudge thing is real af.
same thing happened on my mom's side. she had half a dozen aunts and uncles that stayed in ny.
she thought she had no living relatives except her 1 bro's 3 kids and their kids.

because my Grandma hated them for drinking way too much and constantly getting into trouble.

Grandparents were not on speaking terms with them long before I was born. The Irish grudge is a real hard thing to get past. Unfortunately only a few of them had kids and the kids died young.

I've seen the photos though and they looked like they were a lot of fun. Wish I could've met them.

my grandpa was born there, and i found a cousin that still lives there.
imma see if the haints will talk to me.

i never used to believe in that stuff. but one thing that always gave me pause was that when my uncle died, my da, who was also dying and doped up and put of it, woke up calling his name. exact time that he died.
for other reasons, i read up about banshees, and yeah. i believe.

i also found out that in families whose names start w o', the women are said to have visions.
my grandmother was an o'regan. i have had more than a few, including one that saved my son from drowning. so, yeah, never gonna question my 'gut' again.

wаs hoping for this winter.
it's already been a journey tho. tracing my tree so i can get a passport, and my word.
i thought i came from poor ppl. nope.

and learning the songs. by the time i get there i will be ready to sing all night in the pub.

I understand Winter is miserable there.

If we all go at the same time we should meet up and have a DU Irish ☘️ party.

I considered moving there because of 45.

But they are very strict. And I am too old.

i will have citizenship when i go, so if i should happen on a little farm that i can afford, i may just buy it.
rent it out, but be able to visit whenever i want.

my ex remarried an irish woman. a chicago cop born in donnybrook.
he works for cme, and the plan is for him to be posted in the belfast office, and retire over there.
i mostly dont hate him, but him getting over there before me is something i will ALWAYS hold against him.

the maskholes around here make me cray cray.
i have more risk factors for this shit than i have toes.
and i cant resist telling the maskholes off.

But! I'm not on my island.

and a fine one it was. went to visit my great grandparents for day of the dead.
had no idea they were buried just up the road. i have been in that cemetery a hundred times and somehow never noticed that it was almost all irish.
i meant to snap a pic for you, but i was freezing. next time.

I feel homesick.

I’ve spent very little time in Co. Mayo.