Words come back to haunt you! On December 9th
I quoted Dickens by recalling the opening lines of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
Today was one of those days.
Niamh had one of her best days ever and was very happy in her new job. She
achieved the standard and quantity of work that might be expected of a seasoned
employee and loved it. A lot of this is due to the encouragement and moral
support of her mentor, John Keegan.
Well he is a distant relative of course. The two
worked all day and Patience planted 200 saplings in very testing conditions.
Carrying 100 young trees in difficult terrain for a distance of hundreds of
metres as well as her trusty spade is no mean feat. Then she is physically very
strong and hugely determined. Patience in all aspects is a remarkable woman.
She is very beautiful, hugely intelligent and though you could not read her
mind you are very aware that she has an exceptional one. The Prodigal is old
enough to be her grandfather and she has been told this many times including by
yours truly.
I must be the only man in Ireland whose mother
in law is twenty years younger than him. Then again if you met her mother it is
obvious that ‘The apple never falls far from the tree’. We have been together
for more than half a decade and I have never come across such a united ‘odd
couple’ as professor Seamus Mac Aogain described us. We spend an incredible
amount of time together and never seem to get on one another’s nerves which is
remarkable. What she sees in an auld bollox like me I will never know. At any
rate for Patience this is the ‘best of times’ and by fortuitous association for
myself also.
Then there is the other side of the coin. Not
long ago an expected friend started a long and dangerous trip to be with us. He
undertook the most hazardous of journeys to join our merry little band. Adam
started his journey well equipped and we had every expectation that he would arrive
home sometime in the New Year. It was not to be.
Not long after setting out on his voyage the
Gods intervened. Adam had a mishap which turned out to be fatal. Misadventure
they called it. Anyway the great expectations all turned to ashes and dust.
Never will we now see the fair face of this ‘child of grace’. We must believe
that he is in a better place. For his mother and father and all of us who
looked forward so much to his safe arrival these are “The worst of times”.
Man provides; God decides.
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