Back Home To Ireland!

There is a strong belief among people of Irish descent that Ireland is of course their true homeland. Much of this is related to their family heritage and the bonds and history that grew from stories told by  family members. Many have had the expierience of hearing of the struggles, hardships and the trips themselves directly from parents, grandparents or aunts and uncles who traveled from Ireland to the United States in the late 1800's or the early 1900's. I am lucky to be one of those. So I recently made the trip back home to Ireland. I just returned and thought I would share some of what I saw.

I traveled on a tour with a group of 32 other folks. It took us through many of the sights and sounds of Dublin and then County Clare. We also visited the Aran Islands. It was a fascinating trip and I got to see up close the land of my heritage. Ireland truly is a beautiful country. The sea coast and the countryside are filled with outstanding sights as well as over 40 shades of green I'm sure. The geography is both rugged and warm. Archeological sites dot the land almost wherever you go. Abbeys and castles, some hundreds and others thousands of years old. Stone walls plotting out ownership of fields and marking pastures but not necessarily stopping sheep or cows from wandering.

Tourism dominates the economy of Ireland today. That same economy has taken a nose dive from the boom that took place a few years ago. Unemployment is running at around 14% and government cuts are being felt by everyone with more cuts coming. But tourism does continue and thrive from what I could see. The streets of major villages and cities are filled with people either visiting for the first time or returning on a holiday and all seem to be treated equally well by local people.

Galway is a fun place to be on a Sunday afternoon. Street performers are up and down Quay Street. Vendors and artisans also set up shop selling jewelry, food and handcrafted items of all sorts. The pubs are full and offer good food, drink and conversation. Honestly, no one is a stranger from what I saw. It is easy to get service, advice, directions or opinions on just about anything from both employees and fellow customers.

Ah the pubs. They certainly are the focal point in every place that we visited. Food, drink, conversation and music all flow from these gathering places. The music is wonderful. Most of what I saw was traditional but there is a mix of celtic rock, jazz and blues that can be found along the way. The pub music made me wonder why we don't do more of that in this country. Basically musicians meeting up in the late evening to play with each other, to share techniques in a public setting. Little jam sessions mixed in with conversation and camaraderie. A reserved table is set aside after the evening meal and a fiddler, guitar player, drum, pipe and accordion or some mix of them all, begin showing up to take their turns leading or playing a tune. Most of the time musicians buy their own drinks and interact among themselves. From what I could tell, these folks play for the love of the music, the tradition and the development of their own skills. It's a lot of fun to watch.

But the real purpose and foundation of my trip to Ireland was a return to my heritage. A quest to understand the struggles and motivations of the inhabitants of this beautiful island in the sea. My grandmother was a Kelly from the small village of Ballyfarnon in County Roscommon. It is the northern most village in Roscommon and is right on the border of Sligo. She, like millions of others, left family and home to travel to America as a young woman. She had very little in her possession when she left and probably not much of an idea of what she would encounter. I am still trying to retrace her experience but she most likely embarked from Queenstown and its harbor of tears along with so many others who were looking for a new and better life across the ocean. She arrived at Ellis Island and began her life in a new and different land. She became a cleaning woman first in NYC and eventually at a hunting and fishing club in eastern Pennsylvania where she met a local farmer turned hunting guide, my grandfather. They married and moved to New Jersey where she continued to work cleaning rooms and offices. He got a job in a mailroom as a clerk through one of his contacts at the hunting and fishing club. They raised a family of two daughters and a son.

I grew up listening to my mother and my grandmother telling stories about that life, about that home far away from which my grandmother came. As far as I know, she never saw her parents again. She never traveled back home. But she followed the news of the 'troubles' and the fight for independence. I know she yearned for the countryside and the traditions and language of her homeland. At the same time she was very proud of her new home and country. She watched her family grow and succeed and she knew how wonderful and strange it was for all of that to happen. That's the heritage and the experience that brought me back home to Ireland