We packed some in the morning, and I went on a two-hour walk around Dublin to all my favorite spots for the last time. I wandered down the canals and through Ranelagh and Donnybrook and Herbert Park and then through Sandymount over to the beach to sit for awhile and contemplate my life. Sad and surreal. We then met Ladonna at the Queen of Tarts for our last lunch meal, walked back through the city (where everything was shut down because some knacker was threatening to jump off a building - appropriate for my last day, no?) and told her goodbye and sprinted away before I could let myself sob. We wandered through Trinity College (my alma mater) and enjoyed the old buildings for one last time, and strolled through Merrion Square where I said goodbye to Oscar Wilde and the beautiful field of flowers where I spent so much time reading and lounging, and then home to pack, pack, and pack some more into the 5 remaining suitcases we had left.
I cleaned out some old drawers I'd forgotten about and found a lot of random memorabelia that made me smile. There was an old church program with a list of different Dublin churches we could try, from our very short foray into church shopping. A business card for the cab driver who picked us up from the airport when we first landed in Ireland and were scared shitless. Beer tasting notes from Tracy's beer tasting party when we first moved. A note from Lindsay she sent with Kathleen to Croatia. A School of Humanities handbook from Trinity College. A macaron box from Meredith in Paris. An ornament I'd been given from the American Women's Club. All things that held such special memories and meant so much at various points in our two year adventure.
We decided to get some pre-dinner Guinness at Slattery's, again, where it all began our first day. We saw Stefan and were reminded how he asked us if we were "tirsty", and we thought he said "touristy", and we preceeded to tell him we were from Texas when he could care less. We sipped our thick beers knowing this was the last time we'd ever get any good Irish ones in awhile. We went to our home away from home, Paulie's, for dinner, where they know us by name - and brought us champagne and limoncello shots because they knew it was our last supper. We then met a few of our best pals at Searson's to watch the US World Cup game and tearfully tell people goodbye for the last time, even though I swore I wouldn't cry.
The emotions I'd kept bottled up came spilling out and didn't stop. I cried a lot that night going to sleep, feeling nervous and scared and sad that our amazing adventure was over and nothing but the real world awaited us when we got back. I teared up leaving our apartment and driving off down Lower Mount Street. We got our 5 huge suitcases checked in and I cried as the plane took off over the bright green island. It was officially over.
How do you sum up something that was so life changing and perhaps the best time of you and your husband's life thus far? I guess you don't, besides saying just that. It was truly the time of our lives and I'll be forever grateful for it and will forever miss it.
And now it's back to the real world, back to our friends and family that we love, and back for a new adventure and surprise...that I'll write about soon.
The end. For now.
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