Ireland

Don’t we all have a few places in life that we would just like to see and/or visit?  I guess some would claim they have a ‘bucket list’ of things they want to see, do, visit, etc. before they die.  While I don’t have an actual ‘bucket list’ written down, I have a variety of things in my mind that would fall in to that type of category, and Lord willing, I will be crossing one of those items off my list come early August (there will be an upcoming blog to explain that one!)  But, I suppose if I did have a travel ‘bucket list’ one of the places that would make that list, if not be near the top of the list, would have to be Ireland.

From Dublin to Dingle, from Killarney to Galway, I think I’d like to cover it all.  While I cannot say for 100% certainty that I have any Irish ancestral roots in me, as my last name is not an obvious Irish surname, I would like to think that there is a smidgeon of Irish deep within me somewhere.  Some of my relatives have dug a little deeper in to our ancestral heritage and have reason to believe that a portion of our relatives may have made a pit-stop in Ireland before they crossed the Atlantic to head to the United States of America, so maybe that is part of the reason for my fascination of wanting to visit the Emerald Isle.

I’ve always been fascinated by Ireland whether it’s the lovely display of the Irish Celtic Cross to the Irish music or the amazingly lovely Irish accents, it is all so appealing and enthralling to me.  Scrolling through pictures online of various places in Ireland just leaves me practically salivating at the sheer beauty of the lush green landscape dotted with small Irish towns and pubs scattered here and there. 

One of these days, I hope to cross the Atlantic and go visit this natural beauty.  Hopefully I won’t end up like my cousin and get surrounded and chased by a herd of sheep.  Although should that happen, it would likely be very memorable and make things that much better.  But until I am able to accomplish my dream of visiting Ireland, I’ll just continue to ponder that wish and cross off other items from my list that I can accomplish.

What are some of your ‘bucket list’ items?  Would Ireland be on your list of places to travel?  Take the next few days to think of places you’d like to visit, things you’d like to eat, people you’d like to meet and so many things.  Each day is precious and we never know when it may be our last.  Enjoy it as much as you can and try to accomplish as much as you can, too.  Remember to take pictures and share your memories with others, too!

Home

When you hear the word ‘home’ what typically comes to mind first for you?   Is it the childhood home that you were born and raised in?  Is it the current house that you reside in?  Is it the town that you grew up in or even the state?  Where exactly is one’s home?  What exactly is one’s home?  Is it a physical dwelling or location or is it more emotional or psychological in its origin?

Growing up in North Carolina, I heard Charles Kuralt’s “North Carolina is My Home” so much that it is practically engrained in to my inner being.  Had you asked me ten or fifteen years ago where I considered my home, I would have adamantly said the house I grew up in (and still live in) in Wake County, North Carolina.  The home that I never envisioned leaving or moving away from.  Wake County was my true home and where I then foresaw myself living and dying.  (What’s that saying – Carolina born and bred and when I die, I’ll be Carolina dead!)

As I sit here and ponder writing this, I realize how much life has changed from my childhood days.  While I do still cherish my homestead where I grew up and still do consider home, I don’t foresee myself spending the rest of my life there.  Things have changed.  Society has changed.  The landscape has changed.  Wake County has certainly changed.  And while change isn’t necessarily a bad thing, sometimes change causes us to lose the true taste and feel of home.

 

So, while I’ve been pondering the reality of one day leaving Wake County, it made me also question is my homestead what I truly consider my actual home? Yes, it is my physical home, but is it my emotional and psychological home? 

As my Mother has quite often said “a home is what you make of it” and that is so true.  You don’t have to live in a grand mansion for it to be your home; our home is ultimately what we decide for it to be.  Additionally, I tend to look at it in a slightly different limelight in that home is also where your heart is but home can also be anywhere that you want it to be.

I tend to feel that I have numerous homes or numerous places where I’ve left of piece of my heart or feel a longing towards.  When I travel, I know when I enter a foreign city or town that it may not be my biological birth home, as that will always be Raleigh, North Carolina, but some places that I have been to, I just feel so relaxed and comfortable that I associate it as being like home.  Those places where you feel most comfortable are places where we can be our true selves, let our guard down, relax and enjoy life.  It may not be where your physical dwelling is or your home based on your roots, it could just be some simple place that made an impact on you or some place you deeply cherish.

I know a lot of people who feel that their home is the country from where their ancestors came from.  In particular, this one individual who was born in the United States but is of Irish ancestry, feels that her true home is Ireland. In her instance, while she does love the United States of America and the state she was born in, she feels a close affiliation to her ancestral home, which is absolutely perfect because her home is either where her heart is or wherever she so chooses it to be. 

I don’t believe your heart has to exclusively be in one particular domain.  Some people choose to believe that, and that is fine.  While I do know that my birth roots are in North Carolina and I do feel it is my home, I also feel that areas in Tennessee are my second home.  I’ve been to several places in Canada, and I honestly felt so at ease and welcomed there, that it almost felt like home. As a child, when we were on vacation, I used to have a longing to come home after being gone for so long.  Nowadays, it seems the reverse has transpired.  While I do desire to return to my home after a long journey, if I’m in a location where I feel just as comfortable, I don’t want to leave because I feel as if I’ve left a portion of myself behind or even feel as if I'm leaving home.

Over the next few days, dig deep and think hard about where your true home is.  While I know Wake County, North Carolina, is my earthly home, when the good Lord returns, He will ultimately take us to our true and real eternal home.  While we can have numerous homes here in this present world, where will your eternal home be?  You have two choices – Heaven or Hell.  The choice is yours, and I encourage you to choose wisely because you don’t get an opportunity in eternity to have multiple homes.  Think long and hard and make the most important decision of your life, but ultimately, in the end, I hope we are sharing the same home. 

Grisham

Are you one of those individuals who always loves to have a good book in front of them?  If so, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.  I tend to believe that our love for reading is passed down through the generations.  My grandfather loved to read – whether it was a magazine or a book, he was often found reading something.  My Dad also loves to read – he used to read a book a day.  Our third bedroom has been converted into a library for him, which is overflowing with books. He has so many books that they now flow in to other rooms and various storage barns. 

When I was a child, my parents used to take me to one of the local public libraries, and my Mom has often said that I would likely have the children’s books all read before we ever got back home.  However, enduring all the reading that comes along with high school and then college courses, it caused me to want to take a break from reading, as I felt my brain had been “read-out” from all those years of studying.  But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come back to grabbing a book or two and reading to relax and ease my mind.  My favorite place to read is sitting in the wooden swing on our back deck in the sunlight.  It is so relaxing to swing slowly, listen to the sounds of nature and read any type of book. 

Reading, there is nothing wrong with it. It opens our minds to a whole new realm of the world, it offers us the ability to imagine and become creative ourselves.  It allows us to transport ourselves from what is going on in our hectic daily lives in to an entirely alternate universe and get so encapsulated there that we can momentarily escape the present day madness.

As readers, we tend to navigate ourselves to certain types of books.  Some people prefer fiction while others may prefer more biographical or historical books.  As with music or other forms of entertainment where we have our favorites, readers often align themselves with a particular favorite author or two (or more!).  Just as with my taste of music, I tend to dip myself in to a variety of types of books as I feel it allows me to better acquaint myself with reality.  For instance, late last year, I read Jeanine Pirro’s non-fiction entitled He Killed Them All.  More recently, I just read the amazing Kate Mulgrew’s absolutely incredible autobiography, Born with Teeth, (which will likely have a blog of its own forthcoming).  I am currently reading a science fiction book, Protectors by Kirsten Beyer, with upcoming on the reading list A.J. Tata’s Besieged.  As you can tell, I try to cover all the bases!

I say all that to say with so many varieties of subjects that I cover, do I have a particular favorite author?  The simple answer to that is maybe (ha!).  If there’s one author that I have more books of in my collection, it would be John Grisham.  I have always enjoyed reading his legal thrillers, and have a rather extensive collection of his books in my miniature library. 

Legal thrillers have always been fascinating to me, as there are many days, I wish I had gone on to law school and become the next Reggie Love from The Client.  Grisham has a way to captivate the readers by incorporating a variety of topics within a single story.  They aren’t all legal based (although they do typically swing that way), but if you read in to them, you will see the hidden stories of the lives of those individuals within their communities or their personal lives outside of their law firms or the lives of those family members or friends that are affected by the central characters within the story.  So many of Grisham’s novels have been turned in to movies with A Time to Kill and The Client being my all-time favorites.

In all honesty, it’s very hard for me to choose an ultimate favorite Grisham novel because so many of the aspects of their storyline I enjoy and it is hard to pinpoint one favorite.  But, I will admit that the first book that I ever cried while reading was The Testament.  Why?  I really haven’t figured out.  But ultimately, without giving too much away, I think the simplistic lifestyle of Rachel Lane, her innocence and humility coinciding with the impact that she had on attorney Nate O’Riley really opened my eyes and maybe even tugged at my heart strings.  (And yes, for what it’s worth, there have been many other books since The Testament by many varying authors that have caused me to cry while reading, as well.)

Being that I always aspired to be an attorney, I think one of the reasons I’ve always liked reading Grisham’s novels is that it allows me to transport myself and feel as if I’m walking in the courtrooms beside of Reggie Love (The Client) or Jake Brigance (A Time to Kill), helping Darby Shaw write a legal brief (The Pelican Brief), or risking my career like Adam Hall to save a client (The Chamber).  It’s fascinating to place yourselves in these characters shoes and try to imagine you facing the same harrowing decisions that they must ultimately make and deciding for your own self what you would do in that type of predicament.

If you enjoy reading, in particular Grisham, what are some of your favorite books and or stories?

We all have to have something that we’ve enjoyed reading over our lives, even if it’s been nothing more than a short article in a magazine or newspaper.  I challenge you to pick up a new book and allow yourself to explore a new realm.  Find you a nice wooden swing and a glass of tea (or a cup of coffee, if that’s your preference) and drift off in to the imaginative universe and distract your mind from the nagging thoughts that surround us.  Trust me, it really does help to find that escape, and who knows, you may learn a thing or two or even be blessed.