his is the
story of "Terry's Perfect Christmas" or why we went
to Ireland in the first place. When
I met Terry in the summer of 1997 it was apparent to me that
he was Irish and proud of
it! He told me of his Irish ancestry and how he had always
wished to go to Ireland. He had a collection of Irish Wade
porcelain and many books about Ireland.
At
that time there was a TV series on PBS, "The Irish In America", which
we watched together. We also watched his favorite movie on
video, "The Quiet Man", starring John Wayne and Maureen
O'Hara, which was about a man who was born in Ireland, returned
there to live, and fell in love with the girl next door.
Terry
had saved some money for a trip and had gotten his passport
but he did not want to 
go alone. He wanted someone to
share the excitement with. After learning that taking the trip
was
his passion, I wanted to go just as much as he did. So,
that Christmas I obtained my own passport and secretly bought
two
Aer Lingus tickets to Ireland. I had to keep the secret
for about a month and I felt like I would burst! We were going
to stay three weeks and I purposely made the arrangements
to
coincide with Terry's birthday in April. I also had sent
to Bord Failte (the Irish Tourist Board) for information on
accommodations
so that we could choose them together.
When
Terry opened his Christmas gift he was absolutely overwhelmed
and was so
happy
that he could hardly contain himself! He immediately
got on the phone and called everyone he knew to relate his
good news.
It was like a miracle to Terry and he told me that
it was his best Christmas ever. Terry was still very excited
the
next
day and thinking about the tasty Irish food. So, we
went to the supermarket and purchased the ingredients for corned
beef
and cabbage! We continued our celebration with an Irish
supper and some Guinness stout.
Click here for the next story - Driving In Ireland
