and then one day.

   One day, I found myself packing.

   I found myself stacking heavy cardboard boxes, pulling suitcases into my room, and taking everything out of it's place.

 And strangely, I found myself enjoying it. I pushed the thought of leaving Ireland to the back of my mind, and focused on what I was doing. Choosing what to bring, what to put in storage, what to put in my carry-on - that part was fun.

 But the next part? Was not fun. There came a point when I couldn't ignore the fact any longer, no matter how badly it hurt. I had to say goodbye. To my friends, my church, my house, my town, my country. The green fields, the winding roads, the beautiful flowers and hills and valleys, my sparkling lake. My home.

 |And, of course, I said goodbye to Alfred :) But he just purred.|

 On the 9th of May, we were off. On our way to the airport, and from there - America.

 Now, as some of you know, airports are pretty confusing things. But they sell Starbucks, and they sell scones. So it's all good.

|I <3 Air Lingus. Mostly because it has shamrocks on it.|

  Then, with me lugging my book-filled carry-on behind me, we boarded the plane.

 

  The flight, although long, was fun.

 |Ireland is beautiful even when hundreds of feet below.|

 |Sea of Clouds|

|Greenland|

|I watched Tangled and Enchanted. Two awesome movies.|

 |Canada|

 After nine hours of flying, we landed in Chicago to board our next plane. Which wasn't quite as nice. At all. But we made it :)


 And so, after a total of around 23 hours of traveling, we made it to California.




...To be Continued...

p.s If you actually read all of that, you deserve some Oreo ice cream. Because that was a looong post. ;)