Erin go Bragh

So . . . it’s Saint Patrick’s Day, and that seems like a good time to answer the question that so many people, including many of you, have been asking me . . .

"When are you going to Ireland?"

I’d love to be able to respond with a straight-forward answer, but that’s just not the way things have developed.

In the beginning, we anticipated going in the fall of 2009. It was to celebrate our 40th anniversary, which was on June 15, 2009. Had that transpired, we would already have gone and returned, and Papa John would already have his prize for correctly guessing our destination. But, because of some health issues, we postponed the trip, supposedly until Spring of 2010. But here we are in the Spring, without airline tickets or B&B reservations or, even, another proposed travel date.

So many factors have played into the decision to postpone, or maybe even to alter, our anniversary extravaganza:

• Dan’s eye surgery was a great success, but I have continued to drag my heels about my knee (pun intended). I don’t want to go through knee replacement surgery until I have to, and I’m still getting by for the most part. However I’m not sure the knee is up to an active vacation like we've been planning.

• We’ve had a number of unanticipated major expenses, which partially depleted our vacation fund – home repairs, car repairs, medical, dental, etc.

• We were blessed with a new grandson, which has meant two or three wonderful trips to Texas, not one of which I would have traded for a hundred trips to Ireland, by the way! In fact, we’re eagerly planning another grandkid “fix” in a few weeks.

• For awhile it looked as if there might be reason to choose a different destination. Although that reason seems to have vanished, our once-focused attention on Ireland was scattered by the possibility, opening our minds to alternatives which we continue to consider.

• We are hoping, a couple years down the line, to be able to retire and have been putting some concentrated time, energy and conversation into planning for that, which has, quite honestly, temporarily diverted our attention and enthusiasm away from vacation-planning.

So, in answer to the question, “When are you going to Ireland?” all I can say is . . . I don’t know. The trip is still dangling out there as a likely possibility, but not as certain as it seemed a year or so ago. I’ll let you know if and when anything develops.

In the meantime, happy St. Patrick’s Day.