I grew up listening to my father speak so many times about his life and growing up in beautiful Northern Ireland.  He talked about the green fields and the purple Heather!

My Dad left his native Ireland when he was a young man.  His older brother had left a year earlier and he decided to follow him and travel across the ocean on a cargo ship.  The trip was long and tiresome but finally he arrived in beautiful Canada.  He and his brother would live on the farm of an elderly couple who needed two farm hands.  My Dad talked often about his experiences of milking the cows and gathering the eggs plus helping in the fields.  He was very happy to be in Canada but his homesickness for his beautiful Ireland was so overwhelming.

I would listen with great interest to his stories and it became my dream to one day travel over to this beautiful land I had envisioned and meet all the family members that I had not known.

Letters were exchanged throughout my younger years and a bond was formed with my distant mysterious relatives whom I longed to meet.  It wouldn’t be until I was married and a mother that I would have the opportunity to fulfil this dream of mine.

One summer day I received word that my father’s sister, my aunt, from Ireland was coming to Canada on a tour.  Oh, I was so thrilled!  I was finally going to meet one of my amazing Irish relatives.  This was the beginning of my journey; my dream!!