Wednesday, May 31, 2023

When Irish Eyes are Smiling


 


 



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  

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