Maybe it is too early to write this. We are on the ferry to Northern Island, having left Scotland this morning.
The ferry is pretty swish, I may add. There is a game arcade, a soft play area, at least four coffee shops, a gift shop and free cinema areas, along with a multitude of seating arrangements. We are surrounded by cuttings, as we sort through our pamphlets, brochures and tickets, trying to get our various scrap books up to speed. I estimate that a good portion of the weight that we carry is in paper.
So. Scotland. Thud. The cause of the squeezing feeling on my heart. Country or people? I don’t know….but it sure has been a lump-in-my-throat kind of 24 hours. To say good-bye to Cat and Stu this morning, to wave Nathan off to school, and have one last hold of Lady Laila…ouch! It hurts. I have no doubt that someday we will all meet again – it is just a sad fact that there will be many years in the interim, and little Laila will no longer be little, and it is highly improbable that the boys will dress up as firemen and pirates and run around together laughing merrily. Still, thanks to the merits of Skype, we need not miss out on the growing up milestones, and certainly the kids will get a lot more out of our chats from now on.
I have to keep weighing up the call of Scotland with the realities of life. If we were to live in that beautiful place, and dwell amongst the wonderful friends we have there, we would need to forfeit time in our own beautiful land, and relationship time with our own families and friends back home. I need to keep reminding myself of this so that the sense of grief doesn’t become too mighty! That and the fact that the alternative to a sense of loss would be to not have these relationships in the first place…and what is a little hurt, compared to the warmth that these people bring into our lives. I wouldn’t want to save us from the pain by avoiding the joy. So I must suck it up. Deep breath. Blink back the bloomin’ moisture in my eyes.
Time went so swiftly that we only managed one visit with most of the people and places we wanted to see. Again, we are in trade off mode: I would have dearly loved the time to wander the town and know the lay of the land. To have become a part of the rhythm of life in Innerleithen, for the kids to feel like locals, however, had we done that, we would not be about to enter Ireland. Maybe some other day.
We are about to pull into port. To wind up, I can say that we had one more trip into Edinburgh together, (on Monday) where we visited Greyfriars Kirk, grave yard and Greyfriar’s Bobby’s grave. What an inspirational dog. A lesson in loyalty that goes above and beyond. Within the Kirk we were given a brief history lesson by a most informative highlander – full of fact and colour – (and wearing the black watch tartan, the same as Sam’s kilt, much to the latter’s delight) This we followed up by a tour of the Museum of Childhood. Such a great attraction, especially given the free admission.
Shane took the kids home and Cat and I did some serious kiddy gift shopping. Such fun – only too rushed and too impossible to repeat.

We are now in Castle Caufield, Dungannon, where the welcome has been tremendous, and the familiarity feels comforting. (I stayed here once, twelve years ago...so I am guessing the warmth comes very much from the home maker, and not from my familiarity.) I can't seem to go too long without choking up or welling up - so I think an early night and busy day tomorrow, are necessities.
I look forward to telling you all about Giant's Causeway and any other wonders we encounter along the way.