Welcome! This is a wonderful time of the year because summer
is almost here!! I hope you are enjoying
your spring so far! It has gone by quickly.
I am excited that my classes are finished for the school year. Happy late Mother’s Day.
Right when I was done with school, I went to IRELAND with my
parents for two weeks. It was an
exciting adventure. I am Irish and many of
my family came over from Ireland during the potato famine. You may have
immigrants that came to America from Ireland or from another country because
they were looking for a safe place to live and America was that place. We went to the place where my ancestors left
Ireland for America on a boat. My great great grandmother had small pox on the
boat and they thought she was not going to live, but she did and that Is why I
am here!! I do my family tree and ancestry so I know a lot about where my
family is from and the history of all the people in my family. It is so much fun and very exciting to learn
so much about where my people came from.
I have great stuff to tell you about what we saw and what we
did in Ireland. Our Adventure started In
Dublin.
We took our time traveling all over Ireland to some of the
places that I never saw before: we went to my dad’s friends that he met when he
walked the Camino in Spain called “the way of Santiago”. They were very nice
and friendly people. I got to know them, and the best part is that they fed us
lots of yummy food. The lady who was
hosted us overnight was named Gillian Guest. She works for an agency for people
with disabilities in Ireland. She helps
people live in the community and her agency supports people all over the area.
Another lady named Heather teaches children with disabilities and has worked at
her school for a long time. It seems
like they have a vision for inclusion in Ireland and people are welcomed and
part of the community.
The Kennedy’s came from Ireland and we went to see the
family homestead. It was very
interesting. There is also an arboretum named after JFK right near where they
family home was located. I learned about
their family and their sister, named Rosemaire Kennedy, that had a disability
and how she made a difference in her family.
Her sister Jean and the Kennedy
family started Special Olympics and now Special Olympics is all over the
world. It actually started in Illinois
over 40 years ago. Now it is in many
countries and of course they have special Olympics for people with disabilities
in Ireland. I have participated in Special Olympics mainly in Gymnastics. I
have not done it for a few years but I loved it. I was also a global messenger for SO.
I went to the Kennedy memorial museum had lots of great information
and I got to know the Kennedy family.
Another fun event was a ukulele group that gets together in a bar every
Thursday called FUREY’S BAR. And I was
very excited to see that one of the Ukulele musicians had Down Syndrome. It made me want to play the Ukulele!
Ireland is beautiful and I was so happy to visit! Everyone
was kind and nice and said hello or waved!!
We don’t have that much in our country.
There are no guns in Ireland and that was also a very nice thing that I
liked. I really loved that People seem
to really care about each other and include people with disabilities.
Have a great June !!
Bridget Brown
