Daniel in Dublin for a Second Time

I have come to find out that as we get older we consolidate our friendships from the various phases in our lives in order to maintain some sanity. I've matured in (some) ways and let go of the guilt I used to carry for not being able to maintain every single relationship that I forged since the age of 8. And, surprisingly, my three closest girlfriends are from that very age group. But still, I couldn't maintain the level of closeness I did in my early 20s with alllll groups of friends while still having enough energy left over to be anywhere near balanced physically and emotionally, to be a present wife and mother and to really devote time to those cherished friendships. One thing Daniel has taught me is that we need not feel guilt if we're not constantly in contact with those we love. (and trust me, I am an expert at flogging myself for not being good enough at maintaining impossible standards of "keeping in touch").

Sometimes friendships (or family) will go through lulls when it comes to genuine contact but that doesn't lessen your love for each other, and for those closest soul-mate-like-friends, it will always feel as if only moments have passed since you were together. Daniel is one of those friends who will always remain close no matter how much time (or distance) has passed.    

What I also realized after having Daniel with us is that he is that rare-breed of friend who is equally 'each of ours' (if we can be said to possess him).  For my oldest friends, Wayne has grown to love them but they are still fundamentally "my" friends. And same goes with his oldest friends; I love them and care for them deeply but at the end of the day, it is they who have the real history together. (Which is a beautiful thing and we need those separate friendships).

Anyway, Daniel knew us before we were an "us". We all met as a cohort in our graduate program at Seattle University and became extremely close, extremely quickly. There were 21 of us and I'd say a good 12 of us still maintain contact and really love and care for each other. The others are dead to us and we hate them. :) Kidding! He knew us separately first, as we started to date, as we married, had Norah and he has seen us grow as parents. We now see him as an Uncle for Norah and can only pray he is always in her life.

Daniel just finished a Master's in Philosophy at Leuven in Belgium (an internationally-renowned philosophy department) and stopped in to see us on his way home to Miami. This is a step above our first Master's Degree in Psychology (which had a focus on Philosophy); this is meant to be a stepping stone toward a Ph.D. in Philosophy. We hope this will be Daniel's next adventure, in whatever program he decides, so we can all converge on Seattle (in the future) and, well......save the world.

One of the sweetest things from our weekend with Daniel was that he insisted on buying Norah the book, "Where the Wild Things Are" (a much-loved book from my childhood too). He says he has purchased this book for each of his nieces/nephews back at home and wanted to get Norah one as well.



Ready for another day of school and getting cuter by the minute.

Daniel showing Norah the Tabla - an Indian Drum he spent many months learning in India (he lived with his teacher for several months).

 

He was telling us how some children in India will be sent to live with their guru when they are about 4 years old and will practice one SINGLE hand movement for 12 months - all day.....every day. Then after a more year, they learn a second "note" and so on, and so on.

So, while we think he's phenomenal and learned so much over the 4-5 months that he was taught, it puts it into perspective. I understand how he can be so humble about what he's learned when some pupils spend a decade perfecting what he learned in several months. Nonetheless, he's amazing at it and it is such a beautiful instrument.

Stephen's Green with Danny

Walking jumps with Daddy and Daniel

 Another discussion on all metaphysical truths.

 A beautiful picnic in Howth with Irish brown bread, oranges, apples, hummus, olives, cheese, and a good ol' fashioned bag of Irish chips sold from a van on the pier. (French fries, I mean)

 Bubble Time!

 Ok, the iPhone sometimes blows my mind. Here it managed to splice together a series of photos of Norah into a panoramic. I've really got to start taking credit for this stuff....

We managed to attract these three Spanish siblings. They were so sweet - they spoke Spanish and English perfectly and their mother even went off to buy a bag of sweets for them to share with Norah (since we "shared" the bubbles). They were so lovely.

Next we walked to the edge of Howth Harbour and took a city bus up to the top of Howth Head. (this is the peninsula that looks back out over Dublin Bay, towards where we live, in Dun Laoghaire.)

Horses on the trail (center)

Looking back across toward South Dublin. Dun Laoghaire would be on the far right.

This may very well have been the last beautiful day of Summer in Dublin. We're so happy we got to spend it in Howth with Daniel.

Love this one.

Big hugs for Tio.

Norah requested I take a photo of this.

On Sunday we all sat on the floor and watched (most of) The Croods. (A Pixar movie about cavemen that's awesome). We set the laptop up on a dining room chair and that's our "media room". Eat your heart out!

 

We've  had back to back visitors this month and while its sad to have them leave, this week we're distracted by our upcoming trip to PARIS! Normally we go through a couple days of mild depression when family or friends leave but this time we can repress that like normal people and focus on our trip! :)

We leave early Friday to meet my Uncle Dan, Uncle Marko, Aunt Mary and cousin Suzy for 5 glorious days in PARIS. (Yes, I'll keep capitalizing that because it just feels that epic). I'm in disbelief and am continually fighting feelings of guilt for the level of opulence we get to experience. Sure, it's dirt cheap to fly from Dublin to Paris but that doesn't change my memory of being a little girl in Renton, Washington and feeling like Paris was three Universes away and only a trip to be done after retirement (or in 1940s Hollywood). Here we are taking a 1 hour flight to get there and staying in a hotel with some of the most important people in my entire life. I cannot believe it.