Yesterday was a good day, too. Happy belated Easter! All day I was thinking about our church services in years past, and one year in particular - I think it was last year. There were a lot of new people in church that day who didn't know that when Dad said "Christos anesti!", we were supposed to respond with "Altheo anesti!", so he was trying to explain it to them at the beginning of the service. Except Mom kept saying the response too early, and it made me and Kate crack up all kinds. Anyway, that was one of my happy thoughts yesterday, and it made me snicker.
It was a nice slow morning, and at a quarter to twelve we drove down the road for church. There were twice as many people there yesterday as there were last week, but nobody stuck around to chat after the service - we all went off to prepare/eat our Easter lunches. Carole's parents, who attend the Anglican church up in Letterkenny, came over and had lunch with us, and I pretty much fell in love with them. Well, I've met her dad - he's come over a few times to bring us cakes and things. (Another reason he's a wonderful person.) But the two of them together are just fantastic. I think Donegal produces the nicest people in Europe. Anyway, so we ate lunch - a wonderful combination of vegetables, potatoes, turkey, cranberry sauce, and THREE KINDS OF CAKES - and then sat in the living room with a roaring fire and talked all afternoon. These fireside chats are always interesting here; they range from politics to geography facts and transportation and history and weather and World War II. Seriously, wherever I go, those seem to be the topics. It's been interesting hearing about the War from so many perspectives - and it's especially interesting that it's still such a topic of conversation here. I've heard such different opinions and surprising facts; sometimes I feel immensely proud of being an American because we "won the war for them, if we're being honest" (according to Carole's mom), and sometimes I feel incredibly presumptuous about it and embarrassed by the fact that we came in so late and then took all the credit (according to her dad). And then I'm struck by how strongly these topics still make people feel - even those of us who weren't born yet. History is an incredible thing.
We went to evening service at 7, and afterwards there was a fellowship time with a ton of sandwiches and cakes and "biscuits" and tea... so we had even MORE wonderful things. We got spoiled on desserts yesterday. When we got back, I went to my room and skyped with my family while they prepared their own Easter lunch. When the camera popped on, I was surprised to be met by Ami's face - Mom set it up for her, and all the rest of the family came and went every few minutes to pop in and say hi, but Ami stayed there with the laptop in front of her for an hour and a half, talking to me. When I saw her first, I smiled all hugely and told her hello; she took one look at my face on the screen and started crying, which concerned me for a minute. Then she said, "It's so good to see you." and I got it. I don't think I'd thought about being that missed for awhile; which is really selfish of me, I guess. Then I remembered how sad she'd been when I left her in her room that day I came to say goodbye. Of course it's a hard thing, watching your granddaughter go off thousands of miles, the way you used to. All the sudden I even missed sitting on her bed with her, watching TV or looking at pictures or talking and toasting each other with water bottles - we'd tap them together and say "clink". I know she'll want to hear stories when I come back, but it's always been more interesting listening to hers.
Anyway. It's almost 3 in the afternoon here, and it's been raining most of the day. It comes and goes in big old cloud bursts, though, so I think the next time it holds off for a bit, I'll go outside and see about a long walk. I plan on getting very wet throughout the afternoon. And then I'll come back and try to write - I think I came up with an idea for a story yesterday. We'll see, though.
Oh, you know what else is good? 10 days and I'll be hugging Kate in London. WOOP. And you know what's crazy? After this week, I won't be staying more than 4 days in any one place until I come home. That's really strange to me. Not scary, just strange. Exciting, too. There are so many places to be seen!
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