Míle Míle - A Thousand Thousands

This morning I opened the windows to let the cool morning air circulate through the house.  With every raised sash came cool breezes filled with bird songs.  As I traced my route back through each room, the avian melodies flooded into the house as readily as the deliciously cool air.  

Gone was the incessant groan and hum of the fans and the air conditioners trying to rid us of the heat and humidity.  What beautiful replacements!  I stood in each room for a few moments trying to absorb the wondrous temperature and sound, saving them both for a much needed time later.

With coffee started, I sat at my desk to check on some news and correspondence.  As part of the morning computer ritual, I stop by the blog to poke at some new / old ideas.  That's when I noticed it.

1000

It's just a number.  No it's not!  It is a huge number!  A significant number to me.

A thousand of you, friends, family, coworkers, and people I have never met, have stopped for a moment at this site.  I am amazed by that.  Thank you for taking time to read these things.  We are all very busy people.  Who has extra time these days to give away?  So I appreciate you giving my stories your time. I hope, in some way, they give back to you, so your time has not been wasted.

That's me with bent knee

To be honest, for most of my life, the idea of writing anything was anathema to me.  I would rather stand in front of a 1000 people in a platinum blonde wig with bright yellow tights on and talk, than to sit and write a paragraph about my experiences.  Yes, I have done the former and the later.  I have heard from one of high school English teachers, Mrs. Eltscher.  She stated emphatically, she believes in miracles because of this blog. Not exactly, but she was pretty surprised that nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and conjunctions were used correctly... "most of the time". 

As much as I have loathed writing, I felt strangely compelled to share stories of our trip to Ireland. In the midst of those stories, I have found thoughts, feelings, and ideas that seem to want to come out.  So they have, some more eloquently than others.  Thanks for reading my out-loud-thinking.  Actually, thank you for watching me learn how to "put on paper" those thoughts and feelings.  It may be rough at times, like one midterm exam in college.

I took a Major Authors course which focused on the playwrights Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller.  I busted my hind-end getting ready for that "blue book" exam.  When I got the test, I almost shouted out loud!  I knew every question, cold.  I wrote my brains out for over an hour.  Two weeks later, when we got our blue books back, I quickly opened mine.  I carefully thumbed through each page.  There was not a corrective mark anywhere to be found.  On the last page there where three words and a letter written in blood red ink.  "Clear, Precise, Illiterate, D"

Hopefully, this blog is better than that test.  But thank you not marking me down a grade when you find some glaring errors.  Please never shy away from sending corrections or suggestions.  I welcome them all.

So, for the 1000 of you, there are a thousand thank you's each.  I am truly grateful for your time and attention.

In Irish, I think it goes something like this... Go raibh míle míle maith agaibh!

I will let one my Irish friends, maybe, the teacher from Dalkey, correct my Gaelic grammar.