My family has been amazing. My cousins here in the UK have built what I can only call a wall of comfort and love around me. I feel so protected by them. They are not in touch with me every day, they don’t need to be, they are there, I only have to reach out. With WhatsApp we are in contact, we meet up for lunches, we plan meeting up in the future and they make sure I am as ok as I can be at the moment.
We recently had a fairly impromptu visit from our cousins in Tipperary which was wonderful. We hadn’t seen each other for such a long time it was fabulous to get together. Fourteen of us got together one evening for a birthday meal and it was just a crazy, everyone talking at once, laughing and enjoyable family evening. We even had two cousins arrive from Ireland that we didn’t know were coming, as a surprise. My Dad’s brother was so happy that we were all there together. Again, I felt protected, loved and looked after. We wondered if our respective parents were looking down from above and loving that we were all together after such a long time.
My cousin Marji and I go back a very long way, to my holidays as a teenager with her in Tipperary and the freedom we both had going to see the Irish Showbands at the dancehall miles away. My Dad was always there to drive us, bless him. We reconnected as if we had only seen each other last week.
Such a happy group photo – it was like herding cats getting us all in one place for photo’s, I think this was the most of us that managed to get into a photo at any one time.
My cousin Marji has the most beautiful voice. Marji runs the Tipperary Gospel Choir. Here is a link to her solo performance on RTE last year. Marji Maxwell
Her brother Michael runs Laois People which now also has a 24 hour country music radio station. Country music, Irish music and singing must just be in our DNA.
We may not get together very often but our family ties are strong, we have that bond and that’s what matters.
With love and sparkles xx
Dawn. The Sparkle Diaries. 