As faint a heart as I carry inside the walls of my chest, as many hearts I have seen break before my very eyes, and not only seen but felt, I still believe in love. I know that somewhere in this great, big world that I have traveled over the past four years that one day I will, in fact, find “what I’m looking for.”
At ten o’clock at night … alone in a strange city, I make possibly the bravest move in all my traveling journeys, maybe even my entire life, as I step outside the Skylon.
Pathetic, I know, but it is what it is.
And what it is, is being a normal, twenty-two-year-old college student in a foreign land, wanting to act the part for once.
My traveling companions for the last four summers, Jay, his wife Debbie, and Minister Maureen, wouldn’t be interested in going, and there was a great possibility that they would tell my parents. So, here I stand, free tickets in hand.
“Look at the state ‘o you,” I hear from behind me and turn to see our guide, a local woman about my age, Dana. “You looks to suffer from a double dose of original sin.”
“Oh. Is it bad?” I look down at my outfit. A baby blue, jersey, cotton tank dress that’s not overly revealing, especially since I have a denim jacket on, paired with white high-top Chucks, but it’s certainly much different than what she saw me wearing today.
“ ’Tis only a stepmother would blame you.”
I have no idea if that’s good or bad, but stepmothers are often referred to as a protagonist, so I’m guessing it’s okay.
“Ye on the tod?”
“Your accent, coupled with words that just don’t seem right together, have me a wee bit confused.”
She laughs as she says, “You going it alone?”
“It?”
“Out alone?”
I nod. “Just for a little while.”
“Unguided?”
I again nod.
“Ye looks to be twice cursed by Adam’s slipup.”
What in the hell? I ask myself.
“I’m worried about ’cha, lass.”
I hold up my U2 tickets. “I’m just going to a concert. Taking a cab from here to there.”
“Two tickets, I see.”
“Would you like to come?”
Her eyes light up. “Aye. Two people shorten the road. Where we headed?”
“Whelans.” I smile.
On our way, Dana, who is a beautiful, fair-skinned redhead, totally looks like what you would imagine an Irish person to look like tells me, if I’m going to be going out alone, I need to know everything not to do while in Ireland.
“Never look for leprechauns. They’re evil, like cats.”
Cats? I think.
She continues, “Never ask for directions in Kerry; you won’t get a proper answer. Never refer to Ireland as part of the British Isles. Never forget to buy a round.”
I mentally take in all the information as she continues.