Five Notes on Ireland
Pictures by Nick Hofmeister, Jon Achenbach, and myself A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of taking a trip to Ireland. It was a gift from some very close friends, in celebration of my upcoming marriage. We had a fantastic time, especially because it was my first trip to Ireland. Five experiences really resonated with me, and will stick with me for a long time. After a couple of weeks to process the experiences, I wanted to put into words the ways that this trip has affected me. Three of the five experiences have to do with churches; two (and really, three) of them have to do with dying to some degree, which is not all that surprising as I very clearly brought my Mom with me on this trip. Most people would say that three of them have to do with spiritual matters, but I actually think all of them do, in truth. And all of them are, in one way or another, about the past and how we relate to it in our time (or, at least, how I relate to it) One--Stories and Writers : On nigh