My mother’s family hailed from the Land of Heart’s Desire, County Sligo in Connacht, on the northwest coast of Ireland. “Sligo” comes from the Irish Sligeach, which means Place of the Shells. The great Irish poet William Butler Yeats, who is buried in Drumcliffe, once said, “The place that has really influenced my life most is Sligo.”
I’ll write more later, but right now I just need to hear a little more Pogues:
Where’re we go we celebrate
The land that made us refugees
From fear of priests with empty plates
From guilt and weeping effigies …
Dave, as my grandfather said of my sainted Irish Grandmother, to my father, "You have only one mother". I am so sorry. But what a fine, good life. If only we can do as well. Thinking of you and your family, my brother.
ReplyDeleteDon't focus on how she died; focus on how she lived. The end part is just the tip of the iceberg of anyone's existence. That's why it's more important to have as good a time as possible while you're living, and not think so much about the final day. The dying burns more because it's NOW, but like a scar, it hurts less as time goes on. Unless you pick at it. What did your mother always tell you about not picking at it?
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