With St. Patrick’s Day quickly approaching, I decided that I would make a little confession. I am completely and totally obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED, with Ireland. It didn’t start out as an obsession, but that is the monster it has become. It actually started as an “I’m sick of American politics, what country can I move to?” So I Googled “the best place in the world to live.” Apparently, a poll was taken by lots (I don’t remember how many) of people all over the world and overall Ireland has the happiest people. I know, all the rain? I wondered how someone could be happy with so much rain. But then I thought about all of the pubs in Ireland. Maybe most people just don’t realize it is raining or they just don’t care.

So, now that I had a place to move to, I decided I better do a little research and find out about my soon-to-be home. I started looking at photos and there is definitely a reason it is called the Emerald Isle. Because of all the rain that Ireland gets, everything is green all the time. It is breathtakingly beautiful! I also noticed in the photos that ruins are everywhere. You really can’t go many places in Ireland without some history slapping you in the face. It is quite amazing.

The more I researched, the more I wanted to actually move there. Even though my original reason for moving has somewhat subsided, I still want to live there. When I informed my husband that we needed to sell the house, the cars, the furniture, the kids (just kidding, I am keeping the kids), and everything else we owned and move to Ireland, he looked at me like he usually does when I have some big crazy scheme that I am obsessed with and have to do immediately. Did I mention that I am very impatient and when I decide to do something I want to do it right now?

Anyway, we discussed it a little more and he said that we needed to visit before we decided to move. WHAT?!? I was not expecting that answer. Leave it to my husband to be rational. So I decided to make the compromise and we will visit before we move. So now I enter the planning phase of the trip. I don’t know if most of you realize it, but it is very expensive to travel to Ireland. I signed up for every travel e-newsletter you can get. I know that any day they are going to send me an email about a one-time special vacation package to Ireland that will be the deal of the century.

While waiting for my deal of the century email, I was perusing a mailer about continuing education classes at a local college. Would you believe that someone was teaching a class entitled “Discover Ireland”? I almost broke my neck trying to get to the phone to register. The class was eight weeks of absolute heaven for me. The teacher was actually Irish and had a wonderfully twisted sense of humor. Apparently that is how most Irish humor is. (Boy am I going to fit in.) I learned about Irish history, Irish towns, Irish pubs, and everything Irish you can think of. It was a wonderful experience for me and made my obsession even stronger. I have bought countless books on Ireland, I have been trying to learn Gaelic, and let me say that is not an easy task, I listen to Irish music, I bought my husband a bottle of Irish whiskey for Christmas, and it goes on and on. Everyone around me is probably sick to death of it. But that is the sad story of an obsession.

Well, the story isn’t over. I am still planning my trip. I hope to go in the fall for my 10-year wedding anniversary. I just know that once we get over there my husband will want to stay and just send for the kids!

And my last thought as I am gazing at my Ireland desk calendar is that St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish. He was British!

~Raydra