April 6, 1994

"We're going away to Ireland soon, we're going away to Ireland...we'll try not to get in the way of guns as we always do."
                                              The Roches   -   The Troubles

In a few hours I'm off to Ireland with my two little critters, Tiny Teddy and his flying friend, Berry Beagle.  I've had these small stuffed animals for about fourteen years and they always travel with me.  They've been to Ireland many, many times. Although this is our last trip together, I've left instructions for them to be buried with me when I die. During the three years I wrote Travels With Tiny Teddy for the Cape Cod Times, I was in heaven - writing about them was so much fun and they brought great enjoyment to many children.  During that time I had a schoolboy crush on my editor, Amy - a cute Tar Heel with a sharp mind and a quick wit. Oh, the good old days.

All my affairs are in order.  My goodbye letters are written, my will is signed and sealed and all my funeral forms are completed. Once I am dead the only thing my family will have to do is say a prayer for me.

When I am in Ireland I will not get in the way of guns. About ten years ago I was stopped by British soldiers in Derry, Northern Ireland.  I was ordered out of my car and suddenly surrounded by young, baby faced soldiers with automatic rifles. A Sergeant asked for my passport and then gave it to a woman officer.  I was then ordered to open the hood and trunk and to step away from the car. While two soldiers pointed their rifles at me, the Sergeant examined the entire car slowly and thoroughly.

After the inspection the woman officer returned my passport and Boston Irish Echo press credentials that were inside my passport folder. She told me it was in my best interest to leave Northern Ireland,
which I was in the process of doing when I was stopped.  I have been back to northern Ireland many times since, but I'll not be going there this trip - no guns will be pointing my way.

One time I took a cab from South Station to Logan airport and when the driver asked me what airline, I said, "Aer Lingus!"  He replied, "Oh, the Green Parrot!"  I've been using that nickname ever since. The Green Parrot is now on the tarmac next to the boarding gate awaiting our arrival. We are going away to Ireland, our magical, mythical and mystical homeland.

5:30pm   -   Logan Airport   -   Boston, MA

contact: fortheheartcries@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHEN YOU KILL YOURSELF

When you kill yourself, this is what happens - you end your life and as you do you steal life from those that love you, destroy their dreams and devastate their lives of all hope. Their shattered souls and broken hearts will never heal, never mend. Your suicide will condemn them to a life sentence of endless nightmares. Their nights will be spent in a flood of tears, not until they fall asleep but until the sun rises - and a new day of sorrowful struggles and suffering begins, day after unending day. Your death will cause so much destructive damage to your family that it will be beyond repair. All will be ruin. They will remember the day you died every day in mournful misery, in sadness and sorrow, in hopelessness and helplessness - forever doomed to a life of agony and anguish. Their minds will ache in brutal pain as they abandon all hope of a peaceful life. Their lives will be spent wandering wearily, not knowing where they are or where they are going - because their life ended with ...
Read more

SUICIDE: EXPLAINED

 " I fear the weight of his mind has overcome him."  William Clark, of Lewis and Clark, on hearing that his friend and fellow explorer, Meriwether Lewis, had died by suicide. The weight of their minds have overcome them - for that is how our loved ones died. Contact: fortheheartcries@gmail.com 
Read more

A LOVED ONE'S SUICIDE: WHAT IF?

  What if? Two simple words, but if you have lost a loved one to suicide - those two words, "what if," can torture and torment you relentlessly and endlessly. What if he talked to me, what if she called me, what if I stayed home, what if I called to say hello, what if I invited her out to lunch, what if I stopped by his apartment - what if? What if...two words that leave you trapped to a past you cannot change, cannot escape. And that is the life you now have to live - and as time passes and you slowly move on, there will be moments when you reflect back in time and ask yourself, what if? - as I do. What if I had joined Anne for breakfast on that Sunday morning - would she had sat on the banks of the Hillsborough River with a gun in her hand on Monday afternoon? What if? Contact: fortheheartcries@gmail.com
Read more