[ Edited: 10/12/2025 this is a repost of a series i wrote in 2022, migrating it to the new nostr website ]

i arrived safe and sound in dublin at about 9am on wednesday. it’s now friday.

this is the 6th or 7th time i’ve been to ireland and the most common thing i say when returning is how the irish would take the clothes off their back to make sure you’re comfortable. and i’m talking any random irish person, it seems. it’s so different than in america.

i gave my dublin friend mick about a week notice that i would be coming to dublin. terribly short notice indeed! in about 20 minutes he replied, “that’s lovely! i will have off that day. i will collect you from the airport, and you will stay at my house that night.” there was no arguing! i wanted to see mick, ann marie, and meet his 2 daughters for the first time, so clearly this plan was best. “you’re amazing, mick!”

okay, some quick backstory on mick for context here. my sister annie was always fascinated with the idea of marrying an irish bloke when she was younger. so much so that in 2011 (?) she signed up for an irish dating site (meant for people IN ireland), unbeknownst to us. my dad, uncle steve, cousin brendan and i had arranged a “mancation” to the motherland. annie, being steve’s goddaughter, and my dad always wanting to share ireland with everyone, wiggled her way into the trip.

> that first meeting!

while in dublin on the 2nd or 3rd night, she informs us about the dating site — and that she wanted to meet this random guy that night. this wasn’t a request to go off on her own, but a request for us to join her. so the four of us tagged along on their meet and greet, and mick had brought his friend pipes (phil) with him. the night went on and mick and phil showed us dublin through their eyes. it was grand (as they say)! “i would like this gent mick as my irish brother in law,” i said to myself.

in annie and mick’s world, they didn’t have a romantic spark. but from the embers of our newfound friendship, a rip-roaring fire came to be. everyone stayed in touch. and over the years, mick (and phil) came to america to see what an american thanksgiving was all about (i think my mom cooked for 45 people that year). mick came back to new york, stayed with my brother in law’s family on long island, ran the NY marathon. he came with his then girlfriend ann marie to propose in america! mick’s friends eoghan and roisin came the following year to experience the spectacle of a flounders thanksgiving. and a group of about 10 of us came back to ireland to go to mick and ann marie’s wedding. every time one of us is in the other’s country we make sure to see each other. a very funny backstory that i’m glad ann marie also gets a kick out of — or at least tolerates. i couldn’t imagine mick now with a more caring woman than ann marie.

this by-chance meeting has lead to some very fun and memorable times. including wednesday. even though i was extremely tired not having slept on the plane, i stayed up until 11:30pm (which was 7:30 pm on day 2 for me, roughly 40 hours awake). i think i was getting a little delirious at the end of the night.

mick collected me at 9am. he took me to the irish equivalent of an REI, the premier camping / outdoor sports store to buy camping fuel and a lighter since you can’t fly with them. we went back to his house and i checked in on work, since of course we were having issues (because i was going away: it happens every time i go on vacation). i felt bad ignoring mick and focusing on work, but i needed to solve this issue before i started my trek.

we picked up his daughters allana and then clodagh at their schools, and then we took them to the botanical gardens for lunch and a playground. not to toot my own horn, but i was a hit! i got kisses on my hand from allana, a sure sign of affection says ann marie. and a note the next morning that says “i love yu brian” from the older clodagh, accompanied by an “ora-gar-me” folded fox face. i pulled up youtube before i left and made my own oragami fox to leave the girls in my absence, his name also Brian. clodagh even said a prayer that i would be there when she got back from school. they’re adorable!

> me clodah allana and mick

that night, we all went to dinner and i got caught up with mick and ann marie. it was not enough time! i wish i could have stayed longer, but i had walking to do and there was a stretch of a few days with no rain in the forecast (an irish miracle!). after dinner, mick and i met pipes at a bar called “autobahn”. and it got a bit emotional. i haven’t seen mick since before dad (and, therefore bill) died. mick and phil retold the story about their first time in philly.

at this point they had only met dad once (on annie’s date). but mick had come to see philly, run the philly marathon, and see an american thanksgiving. my dad being my dad offered to take them to breakfast. now mick had had a WHOLE list of things he wanted to do and see all throughout the city. but he didn’t understand that breakfast may have been my dads favorite thing in the world and wouldn’t accept a no. so they agreed.

my dad meets them in the morning at one of his favorite breakfast restaurants, but i’m not sure which. it could have been my restaurant (the avenue deli), it could have been pines diner, or the local irish breakfast joint. wherever he took them, you. don’t. rush. breakfast!

mick looked at his watch and thought to himself “oh no. i’m already behind schedule. but i’m thoroughly enjoying this conversation about family, about philadelphia history.” so he and phil ignored the agenda they had set. and had a leisurely breakfast where they got to know my dad a lot better and really connected.

when breakfast is over, they expected to leave and go see philly but my dad had other plans. “i’m coming with you!” and he took them into philly, where they got the hop-on hop-off tour bus, and where mick and phil got to hear my dad’s twist on philly culture. they spent the whole day together, with my dad calling shots. and when he glanced at his agenda at the end of the day, mick was shocked that the entire list was accomplished.

another night that trip, we had dinner at my restaurant, where mick and bill sat next to each other. mick, tearing up as he recalled this, knew of bill’s struggles with addiction at the time. he and bill talked about how it was bill’s dream to come to ireland (ideally with his siblings or on a mancation). he had really bad timing when we went away; he was usually in jail or rehab. or just not to be trusted at the moment because we were sure he was using again. man, addiction sucks. i didn’t know bill dreamt this dream. we always asked him in advance about coming, but at the last minute it usually fell apart for him.

> from mick and ann marie’s 2015 four-night irish wedding (seriously, four nights!)

mick, and i hope he doesn’t mind me repeating this, admitted that the old him would never have the time of day for someone using drugs. he wouldn’t want to talk to them or be in their presence. bill changed that for him. it showed him that their struggles are real and many times deep down, like bill, there’s a heart of gold in there. i of course was tearing up too, and i swear it wasn’t the result of a fourth guinness.

one last backstory here that ties in lovely to both of these stories. it’s about that book that my dad read that inspired him, and inspires this journey, “the irish way.” i didn’t know what it was called at the time. after he died, i looked everywhere for the book he always referenced but couldn’t find it. i did find in his belongings a book about golfing all of ireland’s courses (i believe this author was also walking). i thought that must be the one! i tried to read it but was never sucked in by it. i was surprised the book he loved so much was about golf. i shrugged and said “i’ll get to this eventually.”

cue my 40th birthday. i get a package in the mail from the irish post. i had no idea what it could be. when i opened it, it was “the irish way ” … with the most incredible note inside from mick. he told me in that note that dad sent him the book, “hoping he found inspiration in it like (my dad) had.” and he asked mick to pass it on when he was done reading it (i do the same thing to my books, so that made me chuckle). mick read it, and did find it inspiring. when he was done it, he was going to send it back to dad. but then he sadly passed, which forced mick to find an alternative home for it.

AHA! “i’m saving this for when bill finally comes!” he planned to hand it to bill when he stepped foot in ireland. he realized it may be a year away. or ten years away. but he kept the book on a shelf waiting for billy’s arrival. sadly, bill passed a year before my 40th.

randomly receiving that book in the mail really touched me. mick’s note left me teary eyed in grief and, somehow, happiness. it solidified my previously dreamt plan to walk coast to coast.

sorry this was a long one. next one will be more about the walk. i am roughly 37 miles in. (10% of the way!)

> starting point : poolbeg lighthouse in dublin. mile 0

#travel #ireland2022