Sammi just graduated from high school and in a well deserved celebration of her newly found freedom and grown up-ness, she grabbed her two best friends and come to this side of the pond where they could drink legally. I think the parents were somewhat comforted by the fact they were coming to see me, reportedly an adult, and that I'd be travelling with them. It didn't quite happen like that since they dithered about for a-a-a-a-a-ges deciding when they would arrive and the window for me to take time off disappeared. They managed to survive however so no one need have worried. Except perhaps whoever it is that cleans the kitchen of the place they rented in Limerick.
The agenda for the girls was to use the house as a base for their many travels while here. I would learn to live with their luggage so they would be able to travel light. I may have done them a disservice for any future travel they undertake since they completely over-packed for this trip. Ah well, you can't get everything right.
I showed them around Dublin for a few days, bought them their first legal beer, Guinness naturally, and introduced them to Joe who joined us for dinner and drinks. They love Joe and not just because he bought them dinner, which he admitted later to be a shameless ploy to gain their favour. Which is a bit annoying, since Joe never offers to buy my dinner to gain my favour and I'm marrying the guy! (green card marriage, everyone relax) He does, however, refuse to let me buy my own drinks, so maybe I should stop bitching since we drink a whole lot more than we go out to dinner. Moving right along, Joe met the girls and they got on really well which caused them to hound me for a few days about how cute he is and how it was a shame we really weren't getting married because he's really cute and so nice! (shameless ploy evidently worked)
They took off for their tour of Ireland, skipping Galway after a last minute scheduling snafu and instead, I sent them to Limerick, so they could hike in the Burren and take in the Cliffs of Moher. Joe was scandalized. Limerick is know throughout Ireland as Stab City. Evidently, they have a high rate of woundings by knife and there is little else in the city of interest for 18 year old girls. Unless, of course, they wanted to sharpen their knife skills. I countered with the fact that they were only going there for a springing point, which was a brilliant argument until it rained so hard they couldn't leave the apartment. It was the only time they saw rain on the trip and it was the worst city they visited. I tried.
From there they went to Killarney, which had just won a 'most beautiful village in Ireland' contest, and the girls confirmed it was justified. They spent a couple of days in Kilkenny, mostly in the park at the castle talking with Italian boys. I heard a lot about the boys. They went to Blarney castle, they stayed in a haunted castle, and seem to have taken Cork by storm, spending quite a bit of time partying with The Flaws.
Upon return to Dublin, they were faced with the saddest pub crawl in history, since all of Temple Bar seems to have raised the entry age for the summer to 20. Miles joined us for a few drinks, and mostly to see if any of the girls were hot. He was amazed by them, which he should be, and they hounded me about hooking up with Miles. (he's not the sort you date, I said. They didn't really care.) I'm proud of him, he only made one semi-skeezy remark and only to me. boys...
Off they trundled to Amsterdam and Germany next, promising to buy me chocolate waffles in Belgium and a nice ring from my favourite jewellery store in Amsterdam. They did both of those and then cleaned out the military base in Germany to bring me a table full of American foods, including hazelnut coffee. It was so sweet of them and I was quite thrilled that they thought to do it. And I love ring they picked out for me. They said it was really difficult to pick something out for someone else and together settled on a simply 'it looked arty' ring of silver with a small diamond. They did good. It's my first diamond. Which, incidentally, is my birthstone, and which, also incidentally, sucks.
When the girls arrived back, it was only for a day and then they were heading home, so I had one chance to take them down to show them Dun Laogharie. And wouldn't you know it, when we walked out to the train, it was pouring rain and the train wasn't running. They made some half hearted protestations of 'it'll be a good day to see the national gallery' and 'I'd love to spend the day in the museum', which was good of them, but really not how I wanted them to spend their last day in Ireland. So I threw them in a cab and took them down anyway.
When we arrived, the rain had stopped. When we made it to the pier, the fog had lifted. When we walked back off the pier, the day had totally changed and it was a good day to be at the seaside. They quite liked Dun Laogharie, I think.
We wandered the pier and took photos, laughing the entire time in only the way teenage girls can and then had a quick stroll thru the market in the park. Not much happening at that point, since most of the merchants had packed up, but there were a few left so the could get a sense of it. From there I took them to lunch at Harry's Cafe which is a great little spot on the main street. It took us forever to order because I've never had anything bad there and the menu is really quite good. Lunch was fantastic. We loaded up on their sinful desserts and decided on a night of sugar, wine, and Sex + the City instead of pints in city centre.
It was a great night. They packed while I opened a bottle of my favourite Spanish red wine, which I did share with them, and we chatted and laughed and screwed around and watched Sex and packed some more. I forgot what it's like to hang out with your girlfriends like that. My girlfriends are all married or partnered, save Suzie, so it's been ages since I've been in that situation. I've missed it. The girls are funny, strong, and intelligent women. I have to say I've not met a trio of girls that age who are so very solid in who they are and what they are about. Their parents should be proud of them. Sure, they have their stupid moments and they get a little crazy, but overall, those heads are screwed on right. And I loved getting to know them this way. I loved having them in my house, in and out of my house really, and just chatting away about absolutely nothing at all, taking stupid photos, laughing ourselves sick.
When they finally left the following morning, it didn't seem final. They'd come and gone so many times it was more like they'd only gone travelling again. But surveying the debris field they left in the living room and the abundant space in my bedroom where their luggage had stood, it slowly sunk in. I was gonna miss them.
I showed them around Dublin for a few days, bought them their first legal beer, Guinness naturally, and introduced them to Joe who joined us for dinner and drinks. They love Joe and not just because he bought them dinner, which he admitted later to be a shameless ploy to gain their favour. Which is a bit annoying, since Joe never offers to buy my dinner to gain my favour and I'm marrying the guy! (green card marriage, everyone relax) He does, however, refuse to let me buy my own drinks, so maybe I should stop bitching since we drink a whole lot more than we go out to dinner. Moving right along, Joe met the girls and they got on really well which caused them to hound me for a few days about how cute he is and how it was a shame we really weren't getting married because he's really cute and so nice! (shameless ploy evidently worked)
They took off for their tour of Ireland, skipping Galway after a last minute scheduling snafu and instead, I sent them to Limerick, so they could hike in the Burren and take in the Cliffs of Moher. Joe was scandalized. Limerick is know throughout Ireland as Stab City. Evidently, they have a high rate of woundings by knife and there is little else in the city of interest for 18 year old girls. Unless, of course, they wanted to sharpen their knife skills. I countered with the fact that they were only going there for a springing point, which was a brilliant argument until it rained so hard they couldn't leave the apartment. It was the only time they saw rain on the trip and it was the worst city they visited. I tried.
From there they went to Killarney, which had just won a 'most beautiful village in Ireland' contest, and the girls confirmed it was justified. They spent a couple of days in Kilkenny, mostly in the park at the castle talking with Italian boys. I heard a lot about the boys. They went to Blarney castle, they stayed in a haunted castle, and seem to have taken Cork by storm, spending quite a bit of time partying with The Flaws.
Upon return to Dublin, they were faced with the saddest pub crawl in history, since all of Temple Bar seems to have raised the entry age for the summer to 20. Miles joined us for a few drinks, and mostly to see if any of the girls were hot. He was amazed by them, which he should be, and they hounded me about hooking up with Miles. (he's not the sort you date, I said. They didn't really care.) I'm proud of him, he only made one semi-skeezy remark and only to me. boys...
Off they trundled to Amsterdam and Germany next, promising to buy me chocolate waffles in Belgium and a nice ring from my favourite jewellery store in Amsterdam. They did both of those and then cleaned out the military base in Germany to bring me a table full of American foods, including hazelnut coffee. It was so sweet of them and I was quite thrilled that they thought to do it. And I love ring they picked out for me. They said it was really difficult to pick something out for someone else and together settled on a simply 'it looked arty' ring of silver with a small diamond. They did good. It's my first diamond. Which, incidentally, is my birthstone, and which, also incidentally, sucks.
When the girls arrived back, it was only for a day and then they were heading home, so I had one chance to take them down to show them Dun Laogharie. And wouldn't you know it, when we walked out to the train, it was pouring rain and the train wasn't running. They made some half hearted protestations of 'it'll be a good day to see the national gallery' and 'I'd love to spend the day in the museum', which was good of them, but really not how I wanted them to spend their last day in Ireland. So I threw them in a cab and took them down anyway.
When we arrived, the rain had stopped. When we made it to the pier, the fog had lifted. When we walked back off the pier, the day had totally changed and it was a good day to be at the seaside. They quite liked Dun Laogharie, I think.
We wandered the pier and took photos, laughing the entire time in only the way teenage girls can and then had a quick stroll thru the market in the park. Not much happening at that point, since most of the merchants had packed up, but there were a few left so the could get a sense of it. From there I took them to lunch at Harry's Cafe which is a great little spot on the main street. It took us forever to order because I've never had anything bad there and the menu is really quite good. Lunch was fantastic. We loaded up on their sinful desserts and decided on a night of sugar, wine, and Sex + the City instead of pints in city centre.
It was a great night. They packed while I opened a bottle of my favourite Spanish red wine, which I did share with them, and we chatted and laughed and screwed around and watched Sex and packed some more. I forgot what it's like to hang out with your girlfriends like that. My girlfriends are all married or partnered, save Suzie, so it's been ages since I've been in that situation. I've missed it. The girls are funny, strong, and intelligent women. I have to say I've not met a trio of girls that age who are so very solid in who they are and what they are about. Their parents should be proud of them. Sure, they have their stupid moments and they get a little crazy, but overall, those heads are screwed on right. And I loved getting to know them this way. I loved having them in my house, in and out of my house really, and just chatting away about absolutely nothing at all, taking stupid photos, laughing ourselves sick.
When they finally left the following morning, it didn't seem final. They'd come and gone so many times it was more like they'd only gone travelling again. But surveying the debris field they left in the living room and the abundant space in my bedroom where their luggage had stood, it slowly sunk in. I was gonna miss them.
2 comments:
I just about cried at the end of that
I LOVE YOU FANTY BETH.
{i really do.}
I love you too Sammi.
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