My Momma Came to Ireland

Me and a lamb... kind of stupid.

Over the past couple of days I have been traveling across Ireland with my mom, and two family friends. My brother Dan was supposed to come with but he ran in to some troubles with that. Ask Sheila Javor what happened with that one… Not only was it awesome to see my mom around the half way point of this trip I am on, having them around was also beneficial because I had access to a car which made travelling much faster than on a bus or by hitchhiking. Besides a few scary situations while adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road, the ladies did a great job driving.

Me in 2009

Sheila in 1987

We saw a ton of things. I was keeping track, and we visited or stayed in at least 15 different towns. Thinking back on it, I can hardly remember what we did just a week ago but the coolest thing I saw was Blarney Castle. Although it is Mecca for tourists visiting Ireland, it was delightfully cheesy and very beautiful. From the top of the medieval castle there are awesome views of the land around and the building itself is everything you think of when going to such a place. I was surprised at how far I actually had to lean over the wall to kiss the Blarney Stone. It was a long way down. I was told by some Irish friends that the locals like to get drunk and sneak into the castle at night to pee on the stone. I think they were joking but I still had it in the back of my mind when kissing it. Regardless of this nasty fact, people have been visiting the stone for over 200 years and it supposedly gives you “the gift of gab.” That is a whole lot of lips in one spot and it has turned the spot black.

One of the people to kiss the stone before me was my mom in 1987. Although she has an intense fear of heights, back in the day she got over her fears and kissed the stone. That was during her trip to Europe when she was my age. She has great memories of that time in her life and it was fun to hear her relive some of the memories. Hopefully in 21 years I will have equally great feelings about my time here. I’m pretty sure I will. If anyone else wants to come visit be my guest- just don’t forget to bring my golf clubs.

My mom and I at Blarney Castle.