Begin

See, there's a sun in the sky,
And a moon that will take us til morning.
When are you gonna stand?
Stop and begin this moment.
Hey, let go.
Let go.

Well my friends, this is it. May 2nd is arriving in a half hour, and I will be leaving Dublin at 10. Kate and I said goodbye to Carole and the boys tonight, because we'll be catching our bus long before they wake up. Ray is taking us to the station, so there's one goodbye to go. I've gotten better at leaving, but I'm still horrible at goodbyes. I wish that for once I could say how thankful I am to someone without having to leave a note that I feel says it better. Oh well. I think they know.

Today was a pretty great last day. Kate and I had been thinking of going back into Dublin city, but there was a steady driving rain that lasted ALL day... plus, yesterday was a pretty great and appropriately Dublin-y farewell to the city, we both felt. So we decided to make today a crazy nature day, and spent all afternoon wandering around in the pouring rain. It took me hours to thaw. First we walked up Killiney Hill - which was also an appropriate farewell thing to do, since that's where I went on my first whole day in Ireland. The air was so white and wet that you could barely make out the port, but the hill took on its own charm and beauty in the rain. I think that's one of the really amazing things about Irish landscapes - they're so versatile. Any weather, any season - it's always different, but it's always incredible. And I like that it's different; It makes it impossible to compare something from day to day. There's no point in drawing comparisons between things that are of equal beauty. Anyway, so we went up the hill and ran around for awhile, and then we walked back to the Speers' house to add some more layers to our wet and cold little selves. That done, we walked to the DART station and hopped on a train bound for Blackrock - the station just above the bay where the tide draws back all the way in the afternoons. Every time I go into Dublin, I see a few people waking out on the sand in that bay, and I've always wanted to go - but I never thought ahead enough to buy another ticket. Today, however, Kate and I made it our singular goal to get out there - so we did. We got off the train, crossed the tracks and hopped a wall, and sat on some cement steps overlooking the bay for awhile. We'd bought a coffee cake on the way over, and we demolished it between the two of us there. We then took off running along the wet sand of the empty bay, and stayed for a good long time. It was completely freezing cold and windy down there, but it was beautiful. See? Incomparable.

After we'd had our fill of wet sand, rising tides, and many starfish in puddles, we hopped back on the train and rode it into the village of Dalkey. There we picked up an apple pie from a bakery, and went into a florist shop to create a bouquet for Carole. I'm not exactly sure what the flowers were called that we picked, but it ended up looking GORGEOUS. I know we got some white carnations, and 3 orange gerbera daisies... but we also put some lovely yellow flowers in there, and I'm not sure if they were some kind of small tulip or what, but they were beautiful. The florist arranged them all into one bouquet, complete with a yellow ribbon, and the final product was probably the most cheerful thing I've ever seen. I wish I'd gotten a picture. Actually, I amend the statement: I think that Kate and me, walking down the streets of Dalkey with an apple pie and a spring bouquet is the most cheerful thing. Carole was by the door when we walked up the driveway, so she opened it up for us, and you should have seen your face when we handed her the bouquet and Kate said, "Happy Tuesday."

After a shower, I spent the rest of the afternoon packing - a job which I've only just finished. We had dinner all together, followed by our pie, and then we sat around discussing every subject under the sun. I'm going to miss the dinner conversations in this house. We said goodbye to the boys and they went to bed, and then the 4 of us watched CSI, as is custom on Tuesday nights. And then we said goodbye to Carole... which was much harder than I thought it would be. I finished packing, and even though I'm not really tired anymore (you should've seen me this afternoon, though - I almost fell asleep on the DART), I'm going to try to force myself to get some sleep. Kate's already been out for an hour. What an old lady she's become. Sheesh, I had to think of the jet-lag she'll be suffering from next week... she only just got used to THIS time zone!

I'm waking up in 6 hours. Eesh. It'll be a long day tomorrow, but a good one. Good, because I'll be sitting between a window and one of my favorite people on the planet.

And I'm coming home.

California, I'm coming home!