It All Starts with Family

When we look back, there have been advances that most of us would have a difficult time imagining life without today. I am reminded , as I sit on my return flight from Ireland, that this transatlantic crossing would have taken days instead hours just a hundred years ago. Even the very first flight across by Charles Lindbergh was something that occurred within recent history or even more spectacularly, our landing on the Moon. Why the technology I am using to craft this commentary hasn't been available that long, and the progress doesn't appear to be slowing down much at all either. However, in spite of these remarkable advancements, it all has to start somewhere, and I believe it all starts right at home.

Yesterday, I took a bus from Nenagh to the Dublin airport. It was a delightful ride, and little worry because I "left the driving to them. We had WiFi on board, although I couldn't get it to work, so I enjoyed the scenery from my perch in a comfortable coach seat. Thankfully, I didn't need the restroom as there wasn't an option on this bus. Now there's a luxury that isn't overrated, particularly if you've had too much coffee. It would be awfully difficult to make the 4000 mile, 8 hour plane ride without the benefits of the powder room. I still remember the outhouse at Uncle Willy's and the chamber pots that rested beneath our beds just waiting to be used in the dark of night. We encountered none of that on this trip. On our travels, we have ridden by plane, car, bus, car ferry, bikes, and naturally, by foot. We have used pay phones, cell phones, the internet to skpe and to blog, and we even wrote some postcards, so the post offices have been stops on our tour. Regardless of how much we did and saw, there still is plenty left for a future visit.

It has been a wonderful trip, first visiting in Dublin and then around the southern parts of Ireland and back. A trip that would have taken weeks, perhaps, in the past, but for us, it was all part of week long journey to see the countryside from which many have come. Time seemed to stand still, at least for us but not for the locals. No. This is their life and their land, and they too have moved forward. They shared a part of it with us this week, and my how pleasant it has been, including the weather. Time has not stood still at all, but has gone forward in so many ways. We live most definitely in a global world, and as such, we are all connected in some fashion or another.

Whether you live in Newport, NH or Newport, Ireland, we all are living life. A life that is first defined by our family genealogy and then changed over time by our personal choices and experiences. The world is indeed a smaller world and hopefully a better world than the one our ancestors left us. Now that I've seen some of Ireland, I can appreciate that heritage. My mother always said, "it all starts with the family unit", and she was right once more. Let's do our share as those that preceded us did by doing theirs. Thanks to you Mom and Dad and to all my grandparents for what you have passed on to us!