The blue glass flower still sits on the windowsill here in the Spiddal farmhouse. It was so many years ago that I brought this gift to our B&B hosts. Ah, those were times of beginnings. Casual acquaintances became treasured friends. Serendipitous encounters became valued colleagues.

But now failing health and frailty are changing some of the landscape here. And I am struck by the realization that I had created my own image of an Ireland I would always come home to. An image that would never change. But it is changing. And while so many new relationships are opening up for me through this book launch adventure, it is also clearly a time of endings.

The blue glass flower sits in the windowsill of dear friends who are about to lose a loved one to cancer. In another home it seems that Alzheimer’s will soon have me searching for new lodging for my tours. And I sense more retirements, more endings on the horizon.

After an unprecedented spell of sunshine, the rains returned tonight. And it seems altogether fitting that my sister and nieces, together with dear friends, placed some of my Dad’s ashes in Galway Bay this evening. It’s so easy and joyful to dance the new beginnings. Yet it is so important to honor the endings.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com