Bramble

My cousin Natalie is studying abroad this semester. She has taken herself off to Ireland, and to say that I am green with envy would be the biggest understatement ever! I follow her blogs and pictures religiously, and although it isn't the area my family is from, I soak up every detail like a homesick fool. Nat is in Portrush, in Northern Ireland, and will be moving on to Belfast for her internship. My family is from Co. Claire in Southern Ireland. A little town by the name of Newmarket on the Fergus. It's five minutes away from the Shannon airport. So how easy would that be? Step on a plane in Duluth, couple of connections..... bam!

My Great Grandmother, Anna Frawley, was born there. Her mother Honora passed away when Anna was about two, and her father John sent her to live in the U.S. with a sister. She basically lived as an indentured servant to that family until she met my Great Grandfather, Daniel Lenihan. He had hopped a train to escape farm life in Wisconsin and somehow, somewhere on the East Coast their paths crossed. He brought her back to Wisconsin and so forth and so on, and here I am.

Natalie's travels have brought back my dreams of escape. The little voice whispers, go ahead and take the retirement money, scrap it all, hop on a plane and go to adventures among the green hills. The sea beckons me, and it's a sea that I do not know. How does a person feel so tied to a place they have never been? Is it a past life looming forward, or perhaps something of an ancestors' memory carrying through into me? My Great Grandparents Meys were both born in Belgium, but I have no feeling toward that country at all. Although I do feel a strong connection to Emma, but that is another blog entirely. Someday I will tell her story.

There's a little cottage for sale, called Bramble Cottage. Isn't that just precious? Yes, it's falling down, and no, even at the falling down cottage rates I can't afford it. I will dream about it though. Moving to Ireland, fixing up Bramble cottage, just me, Milkie, and my (fictional at this point) Golden Retriever, Jack. I would white wash the cottage and add the emerald trim so it would look similar to the cottage in "The Quiet Man." Cliche I know, but it's MY dream. I can see myself sitting on a hillside with Jack, wind blowing wildly through my hair, mug of hot tea in my hands, looking out over the waves. *sigh* Bramble Cottage really exists, it isn't a "dream." Not that I'm looking at Newmarket real estate, or employment opportunities..... or anything of that sort. *whistling