A month ago I came home from my first trip back to the U.S. I was worried I wouldn't want to come back to Dublin afterward, but instead it was just the boost and recharge I needed :)
Before we moved, hubby had booked us on the Flogging Molly Salty Dog Cruise, which admittedly was pretty cool, even though I hadn't listened to much Flogging Molly, or any of the other bands that were playing. It was a 3 night, 4 day (actually more like slightly less than 3 days) floating punk music festival over St. Patrick's Day weekend aboard the Norwegian Sky, which left Miami with two stops in the Bahamas: one in Nassau and one on a private island. It was not like a normal cruise, it was more like a bunch of punk rockers hijacked a cruise ship! But seriously, this one had more of a sense of community and acceptance than I think you find on most random cruises, which made it amazing, and of course all the entertainment was by these fabulous artists:
Flogging Molly
Gogol Bordello
Frank Turner
Mariachi El Bronx
Hepcat
Morgan Heritage
Aggrolites
The Tossers
The Real McKenzies
The Drowning Men
The Bunny Gang
Punk Rock Karaoke
Sean and Zander
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| The bonus of having a concert on a cruise ship is that even the biggest theater on board is still pretty "intimate." They had to cover the seats with plastic because we were too rowdy, spilling stuff, stepping on seats, etc. |
You also had lots of opportunities to actually talk to the band, since you were kind of trapped in a small space ;) I actually talked with some of the Bunny Gang guys one morning shouting from balcony to balcony as we leaned over the side of the ship looking for sharks in the water, which they claimed to have just seen. It was fun :) Plus, I got hubby out in the sun and on the beach, VOLUNTARILY, which I though I'd never see.
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| I know we look all sunburned here, but we are sitting under a red umbrella, so it just made us look red-tinted. It was a nice spot, we were on the deck by the bar, so easy access to drinks, no sand in our stuff, and umbrellas were hard to come by! |
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| The first morning we were up early enough to see the sunrise. This is the Atlantis resort, we went to the water park and it was a blast! |
Hubby didn't want to take too much time off work, so he just came in the night before the cruise and headed home the day we disembarked. Unfortunately he couldn't fly in the morning of and leave anytime near the disembarkation time, so he had to stay the night before the cruise in the airport hotel, and spent most of the day in the airport on the way home. My experience was much more enjoyable because I planned visits around the cruise.
First I went to Virginia, the place my heart calls home. Not only did I get to catch up with lots of friends, but I also got to go to my Goddaughter's baptism!
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| She was clapping as we were taking post-baptism pictures, but let's pretend she was praying. |
As happy as I was that I was able to be there for the baptism, the best part of the trip was just how much better I felt afterward! By the time I was ready to leave for this trip, I was feeling really down and useless, and this persisted for the first day or two I was in VA. But slowly, as I started to see more and more people, spend some quality time with my BFF and her wonderful babies, and get more and more reassurance that 6 months isn't really long enough to feel completely settled, I started to feel much better....much more like my old self. Plus, as one friend said, I didn't realize how much I missed everyone until I saw them! Of course, it wasn't long enough, I don't think these kinds of trips ever feel like long enough. But I'm sure I'll be back soon!
After the cruise I headed to California to see some family, especially my mom (who joined me in CA), my big brother, and my new niece! This was like baby-palooza for me. She was born shortly after we moved, making me a first time Auntie, and this was my first time to see her in person.
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| She is a very active little girl, she loved going for walks! |
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| It seems all the pics I have of her are with a hat on, but she's got some pretty red hair under there, just like her daddy! |
Years ago, like over a decade, my little brother moved to Greece to go to culinary school. He wasn't there long before he decided he was going to stay in Greece. Then he came back for my wedding (my first one). Although I am sure there was a lot more to the decision, the way my Mom tells the story is that he came home, realized how much he missed America, and decided to move back. I was so worried the same thing would happen to me. I do miss shopping in the US stores (which I did quite a bit of while I was there), and being able to get delicious ranch dressing on my salads when I go out to eat, and being able to maneuver around an area I know so well and feel at home in. But other than that, what I really miss is the people. You can never replace the people. But I can make occasional trips back to visit and catch up (after this trip I realize how very important that is to me), and Skype, and Facebook, and email, and blog. And as I pointed out to BFF, while I lived there I only saw her like once a month! When you are going about your normal life, you get busy and it's not like when you come back and visit and you are seeing people for lunch and dinner every single day. So yes, I miss everyone, but I don't feel like it's insurmountable, and I don't feel like it would be TOO much better if I was still in VA, still living across the country from my entire family. And you know what? When I got on the airplane and started hearing the Irish accent again, and when I walked out of the airport in Dublin my first day back, into the sunshine (not like the day I moved to Dublin) and the fresh air, it felt good. It felt like home. And that made me happy.
