KevinGleeson.com

I’m back in the US after a long couple of weeks away. My dear grandmother, Nana Nora, died suddenly on August 3rd. Lucky for her it was quick and she didn’t suffer a bit. Unlucky for us she will be, and is already, sadly missed. She was 88 years old at the time of her death and she was buried at St. Fintan’s grave yard in Sutton on her 89th birthday. The whole thing was a bit overwhelming. I must have heard it a million times in the last couple of weeks…”No matter how old they are, it’s always a shock,” and It’s true…it’s a real shock and just does not seem fair. At any rate, it’s part of life i suppose. She had a really nice send off. The funeral was really lovely, the weather was perfect for a burial, tons of my Mom’s relations, who we have not seen in ages were up from the country, the reception dinner was fantastic at the Howth Yacht Club…all-in-all it was really sad but a good day at the same time. For me, it felt sort of like the end of an era. Nana Nora was the last of my immediate family in Ireland. So, for that reason I felt like I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible…I suppose I didn’t want to face the reality of it all. I was initially booked to fly out of Dublin to New York on the Sunday. I quickly changed my flight and left on the Friday instead. I flew to Amsterdam where I met friends and had a good laugh. Initially, I intended only to stay in Amsterdam for a couple of days and head off to Barcelona. Knowing that Amsterdam is a major airport for the rest of Europe, I figured I’d have no trouble getting a cheap flight to Barcelona…I was wrong. I could not get over how expensive flights were…400 Euros. That’s what i get for trying to book travel in Europe at the last minute in August…lesson learned. I stayed in Amsterdam for the week and had a lovely time. Happy hour was the highlight of every day and spent with Gerry and Molly at the bar…really great people. Gerry is from Cork and Molly is from the North of Ireand…best friends for years, Gerry lives in Amsterdam all the time and Molly splits her time between London and Amsterdam. Otherwise, time was spent eating way too much food and consuming far too much alcohol…two of my favorite things to do Unfortunately, Deividas was working most of the days, but one of the days he was off, we did have a nice dinner at Bert’s restaurant, the Getto. The weather was lovely with the sun shining just about every day. I rained only one of the nights. I flew home on Saturday afternoon…stuck in the middle seat on a chock-a-block plane. It was one of the more miserable flights, but I arrived, nonetheless. Upon arrival with my expired green card, I was sent to a ’special area’ where they checked my status for entry into the US…I’ll write about that experience another time…it was terrible. After waiting more than an hour, I was cleared, allowed to pick up my luggage and exited the airport where Miguel waited for me. I felt like I had been gone for months. So, it was nice to sleep at home and see the pups, Seamus and Clement.