Irish Lessons

I was booked to take a tour of the Ring of Kerry. This was my piece de resistence - the ONE thing I was looking forward to. So it was with great excitement that I took a 6.30am taxi to Heuston Station. In Dublin, it is extremely expensive and I was almost used to spending over fifty dollars on a 15 minute taxi ride.

I arrived and caught my train at 7am. By 8am we were delayed and sitting motionless somewhere in the south west of Ireland. The rains had caused great flooding and transport in the UK had been hit everywhere. One hour late we arrived in Mallow and I as toold that my connecting train to Killarney had been cancelled. No problems however - I was told in a liltling musical Irish accent - we have arranged for a replacement bus to drive you there instead.

30 minutes later we were told that the bus had indeed broken down but no panic, a second bus had been dispatched and would arrive in minutes.Thurty minutes later, we were advised that tea and coffee were available for free - somehow to cushion the blow - because the replacement bus was stuck in floodwater. By this time my tour bus in Killarney had left without me and I was told to return to Dublin for my refund.

Not bloody likely - I HAD to keep going - I was in Cork - not far from Killareny and so patiently waited for another train and continued my journey with no plan, no map, no tour, no booking and no clue as to what I would do. The green hills rolled by my train window and the magic of Ireland wove itself into my heart and I was infatuated with this place so really didnt care WhAT I did as long as I was here.

So after an unexpected start to my day, I arrive in Killarney – Cill Airne meaning the Church of the Sloes. Yup it’s all pretty much about the churches here - shock horror the Catholicism of my ancestry hits me in the face here - all I can see is my patrenal grandmother everywhere I look.

I found a local pub and had a brunch to warm me up as it was raining windy and freezing – all my Irish favourites. I walked around the town to find colourful laneways and doorways, an old interesting cathedral that reminded me of St Patrick’s in Gympie and many historic buildings. The town was cute, however as I missed going to the Ring of Kerry I really wanted to explore the National Park and get as close as I could to the mountains, lakes and forest – in a tiny attempt to still experience a little of this heavenly Kingdom of Kerry.

For centuries the Killarney Valley has been recognised far and wide as Ireland's most beautiful destination - being aptly titled as "Heaven's Reflex". It inspired Poet Laureate Alfred Austin to write - "If mountain, wood and water harmoniously blent, constitute the most perfect and adequate loveliness that nature presents, it surely must be owned, that it has, all the world over, no superior". I have to admit it took my breath away while walking through the National Park in the mist and rain and wind making my experience even more surreal and magical.

It is the most westerly point in Europe here in Killarney and the National Park covers over 25,000 acres of mountain, moorland, woodland, waterways, parks and gardens. You access the park from the main town centre and yet once within the walls you are transported to another time and place. I could see over to the misty mountains and the large areas of blanket bog, the oak trees growing on the lower mountain slopes and the remains of an ancient woodland that used to over most of this land thousands of years ago.

I have had a dream for years about sitting beneath an ancient oak tree in this area of Ireland and today they surrounded me as I walking through the park towards the lakes and bogs. There were plenty of birds and geese although I didn’t see any deer apparently they are renowned for this area. The deer were smart and stayed indoors as the blustering cold wind was whipping under my jacket and turning my umbrella inside out.

That umbrella! I bought it in London on Christmas Day as we made our way to Marble Arch for lunch. It is a cheap Union Jack design and now walking in Ireland I suddenly felt very self-conscious and almost in danger using it. However there were no shops open inside the Park and it was wet. I saw the ruins of Inisfallen Abbey, Muckross Abbey, House and Farm.

I eventually found MY tree and sat there while the wind howled around me and I nestled close to its trunk and listened as the leaves shook and sang over my head. Pure Magic!

Reluctantly I left the Park and headed back into town to check out these churches that influenced the very Killarney name. Whenever I travel and need to find some peace and quiet while away from my hotel room, I usually find a church and just go and sit and think. There is something about the angles of design in these old buildings that alters my molecular structure and readjusts the vibrations within and without.

First church I checked out wasSt Mary's Church in Rookery Close. A really cute little Gothic style church which once again used to be an ancient significant site. I sat here for quite a while reading all the plaques and admiring the incredible stained glass windows. Before I knew it, my clock showed it was three thirty in the afternoon and I felt the darkness of the evening begin to creep across the windows outside. Time to find a train to take me home to Dublin.

Changed again at Mallow after Killareny and then arriving in Heuston it was easy take a Lurs (like a tram in Amsterdam) to Abbey Street and walk across O Connell over the bridge to the Temple Bar area, down Dame Street and to Juice for dinner and home to the Radisson.

Too easy!

Friday 18th was all about work and meetings. That went well however the highlight was being invited by Dr John F Demartini to visit the Mountjoy prison for women with him. The Irish Prison Service is actually one of the oldest public institutions in the country, dating from the 1800s when several of my ancestors were given a one-way ticket to Australia. I think we Aussies were great for the Irish prison system! The Dóchas Centre at Mountjoy, for Women, runs a Personal Development curriciculum dealing with issues like employment, training, social welfare and forms of basic life coaching. I spoke to a few wardens who said that the prisoners were THEIR teachers and that every single one of us has committed a crime of sorts – only we haven’t been caught and these prisoners have. Aged between 17 and 30 for the most part, many are different nationalities caught at the airport upon entry for the standard – drug trafficking.

The wardens said that many reoffend to return to the family and security and support programs that are not provided outside in their three generational sub culture at home. These Personal Development courses are designed to transform that cycle into more choices for the women. This was a profound experience for me and I felt honoured to have been invited by Dr John Demartini. I watched him speak to the girls for a couple of hours. It was a talk that I’d never heard before and he received heckling and rejection as well as applause and acceptance.

After meeting some great Dubliners deeply involved in this sector, we headed to the Radisson for our Teachers meeting and a group dinner at Juice – fast becoming everyone’s favourite Dublin restaurant. Like the previous weekend, the Breakthrough early start and late finish, kneeling and working with clients for hours on end was a tiring yet rewarding experience.

It was especially significant for me this time however. I was asked to surrogate at 1am in the morning for a local fellow as his mother. When I looked into his eyes I saw my third child and the words he said to me belonged to hi,. So I looked into the eyes of a stranger, saw my son and told him how much I loved him and that no matter what he did, there was no need for forgiveness.

I went to bed straight afterwards and thought nothing of it until 10am the following morning about to leave for the Sunday breakthrough and my phone rang.

It was the son whose eyes I had seen in the face of a stranger the night before.

He had been assaulted by the next-door neighbour at exactly the same moment that I was telling this surrogate that I loved him. Apparently teenage fun got out of control, they threw eggs at the house and the fellow next door lost his cool and bashed him into unconsciousness.

He had been taken to the Wesley hospital and had tests all day and was very ill and in great pain. Because of the work I had studied with The Concourse of Wisdom and Dr John Demartini, I knew in my heart that nothing was missing for my son and that he was safe and loved even though I was on the other side of the world. (even though as a mother my heart wrenched in agony at our distance)

The power of this experience changed my life forever as the next few days would soon attest.