John and I celebrated our 26th anniversary last week and decided it was time to head out of town for a wee bit. In a devotional on grief, I read that perhaps God provides beauty in the world around us to help us enjoy, breath deeply and soothe our aching soul. I found that to be true this weekend.
It is no shock to those who love me that Ireland and the Celtic lands soothe my soul. We can't afford a trip right now, so we are planning a trip next year. But until then, my sweet hunny took me on a trip that was as close as we can get right now.
I find myself clinging to anything Celtic. I put hints of it all about my house, inside and out. I have loads of books about the lands both fiction and non-ficton. I have many, many photographs. I cook Irish and Scottish foods. I go overboard decorating for St. Patrick's Day. All those crazy things speak deeply to my heart.
I get a magazine called "Ireland of the Welcomes". It is packed with articles about my favorite land, all the goings on there and Irish celebrations in other countries. I love getting the magazine and pour over the pages when each edition comes.
This month they counted down the top 10 pubs across the world outside of Ireland. Lucky for me, the #1 best pub outside of Ireland is in Nashville, Tennessee. It's called McNamara's. So guess where we stopped first on our little adventure. Yep, we had lunch at McNamara's.
It is so IRISH! The decor, the atmosphere, the food, the music...all of it is so Irish. I felt like I had fallen into a big soft Irish pillow of comfort. We had divine Irish food as we talked about all things Irish and looked around at all the Irish "stuff". The owner is from Co. Down, not far from where my folks in Ireland are from, so just talking to her made me smile. I have officially found my new favorite place to eat!
After stuffing ourselves with way too much food, we hit the road and headed north. Our first stop was at an incredible downtown Lexington called Kentucky Theater. Old place. It was as if we were stepping back in time. We arrived a wee bit early for the movie, so we walked across the street in the cold and snow flurries to a place called "Natasha's" for a light supper. Then we slipped back through the snow to the theater to watch "Quartet".
I highly recommend the movie. I ADORE Maggie Smith from Downton Abbey and Billy Connoly cracks me up. The Kentucky Theater is a grand place to watch a movie. It's a big, OLD, beautiful theater complete with stained glass, painted impressive crown molding and get this....a guy playing an organ while you wait on the movie to start. So cool. We loved it.
The next morning after sleeping in late we headed to a shop we had heard about from my dearest, Irish friend Siobhan. She is originally from Co. Laois in the midlands of Ireland and ended up here in Athens, Alabama. Why anyone would leave Ireland is an amazement to me.
Lexington is horse country, so lots of the Irish have settled there. A lady from Ireland has opened a wee shop in downtown Lexington called "Failte" (means WELCOME in Irish Gaelic-pronounced fawl-cha). It's a lovely little shop filled with all kinds of Irish goodies including groceries. I could have spent a thousand dollars in there easily, but alas....John was along :)
It was still snowing, so after spending as much money as John would allow, we walked through the beautiful snow to have lunch at a place called Shakespeare and Co. An amazing place with a 25 page menu. You can get everything from traditional American to Indian and Mediterranian.
After our snowy walk and lunch, we headed back south. Our intention had been to stop at a place called the Bourbon Heritage Center and learn all about bourbon. I wanted a cookbook from there. But we missed the exit. We were too busy talking and enjoying the snow :) This was really a fly by the seat of your pants trip. My favorite kind. Just ride and see what happens and where you land.
We came upon a horrible traffic jam on I65 and exited off for a pit stop. We discovered from the staff at the gas station that both lanes of 65 had been closed for a while. So we asked Betty, our handy little GPS lady, to find an alternate route. We thought she was crazy when she took us through the sticks, but it was a lovely ride though quaint towns past beautiful farms and churches. We did eventually end up around the traffic jam. Sometimes the road less taken is the best one after all :)
After winding around in Kentucky, we ended back in Nashville and stopped by McNamara's for yet another meal and dose of the Irish. My guess is we've found a new favorite hangout. I suspect that we will be heading to Nashville frequently for a dose of Irishness.
Sunday morning we had a wonderful worship service. Mostly because it was announced that one of my girl cousins (that is what the 5 girl cousins on the Ramsey (Irish) side call ourselves) Connie was baptized and placed membership at our church! Doesn't get much more blessed than that! Connie's sister Debbie and their Daddy, my Uncle Glenn, were visiting with us too. What a perfect worship service. I adore a pew full of my peeps!
After church, we all headed to a great local restaurant called 306 Barbecue and had a wonderful lunch full of giggles, stories, ball game schedules, good food and lots of love. My Momma, Daddy and Aunt Rosene joined us there. Love time with my family.
After a mad dash of house cleaning, we had a house full of folks here for Life Groups. We are beginning a new study in discipleship and it should be a great opportunity for serving.
Got a call just before Life Group that our great nephew Miles was playing in the finals of a regional 9 and 10 year old basketball tournament at 7pm. So after house church/Life Group we zipped over to watch Miles' team win the tournament and the opportunity to play in the state finals next week at the University of North Alabama. Awesome.
The trip helped. No, it didn't help me miss Angie less. In fact, I thought about her most of the trip. We talked a lot about her. As we drove past places in the Nashville area where we had our last big shopping trip, I thought about everything detail. What we did. Where we ate. Things we laughed about. What we wore. The fact that we were in the "little" car.
I did have a few crying spells over the weekend and I'm thankful for an understanding husband. The fact is, he is grieving too. All of us are, in our own individual way.
I am indeed refreshed, but still grieving. I may grieve over losing my friend for the rest of my life, but I have hope that it won't hurt like such an open wound forever.
So, how am I? I'm grateful...but I sure miss my friend.
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