Day Zero of Nine: Project Mid-life Wardrobe Adventure.

My mid-life Wardrobe adventure begins here, at the Denver International Airport.  This is ground zero.  This is day zero, of nine days ahead.  WHY all the hub-bub???  Really, Rebecca.  It's not like taking a trip to Ireland is the end all be all of life.  I agree.  It really isn't.  However, what this little trip to Ireland signifies is SO much more than just hopping on a plane, staying a bed and breakfast, drinking a Guinness, buying delicious wool "bling", and chatting it up with the locals.

My husband, on his way to dropping me off at the airport,  articulated what this trip means to me.  I paraphrase:  "God has a plan for you, in taking this trip.  Ireland is so much older and has so much more of a history than we do here.  The roots go so much deeper.  It is going to connect you to the bigger, older, more eternal plan and identity that GOD has for you.  All of that gets so lost in the day in, day out momming and living an ordinary life".  Hmmm...in addition to the other reasons to go to Ireland (see above list), he really hit the nail on the head.  

SO.....here I sit, in the airport.  I LOVE airports.  Well, let me rephrase that.  I LOVE airports when I am not juggling kids and a hundred bags, snacks, and bottles of water that accompany said kids.  Traveling without three young children is a total holiday to me.  DON'T get me wrong...I love going on trips with my family.  It just brings with it a whole host of distractions and stresses and FAR TOO many trips to nasty airport bathrooms!


Just sitting here in a little blue pleather airport seat, surrounded by bunches of people, also sitting in little blue pleather airport seats, sipping my smoothie with a whey protein boost, and eating a bagel and cream cheese is about as good as it gets.  Here, at Denver International Airport there are MANY people living out their lives.  Their precious, interesting, maybe difficult, totally miraculous lives.  Some of the people are staring down at the face of their "smart phones", sending a clear message of "don't bother me".  There are some who are knitting.  Some who are just staring into space.  Some are using their computers (like ME).  All are expectant for the something...the next thing, the next destination.  I LOVE to imagine where they are all going.  Are they reuniting with a loved one?  Are they going to work?  Are they going on a holiday?  Are they about to enter into something that will change their lives??

As for me?  I am about to enter the Wardrobe :).

PS...I REALLY hope there is good movie on the plane!

In 24 hours, my life will change...who knows how.

Yes, as MOST of my friends and family have been hearing (over and over), I am going to Ireland tomorrow.  

WHO DOESN'T want to go to Ireland?  What IS it about that place?  The whole world just celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  It is obvious that there is a general appreciation for Ireland.  I have been on the outskirts of that appreciation for my whole life!  In ONE day, I will be heading to Ireland.  I can't claim any direct lineage to Ireland.  Those who can claim it loudly because IRELAND IS COOL.  From my self-taught understanding of history, it is a country of strong, kind, survivors.  I align myself with this.  I am adopted and don't know much about my own lineage.  I DO know, from a recent DNA test that on my mother's side I am (give or take) about 60% Scottish/Irish/English.  Even though that may seem random or general, to someone who knows NOTHING concrete about their family past, it is like drinking from a well of fresh, clear, spring water to know SOMETHING.  I will go with it.  I PROUDLY proclaim whatever Irish heritage I may have :).

Crazy.  It's quite odd, really.  When we have a life-long dream about something, and then the fulfillment of that dream sits in our palm, it's a bit surreal.  It is one thing to DREAM.  It is quite another to step out and INTO that dream.

My husband is mostly to blame for this.  He has had a vision and a hope of going to Ireland with me, since we got married.  Well, thirteen years and three kids later, I am being sent as an Ambassador of the Mesple family to Ireland.  He gifted this trip to me this past Christmas.  There have been bumps in the road of fulfilling this dream, even since Christmas.  Not horrid and offensive bumps, but challenges to this plan coming to fruition.  I almost didn't go, a number of times.  Those bumps were pretty legitimate challenges NOT to be ignored or minimized, but the call from the Emerald Isle ultimately won out.  We had to be creative and push through those challenges.  

Standing face to face with a life-long dream and jumping in head first seems like a no-brainer, as far as the emotions around it.  Yet, as I mull over this next 24 hours in my heart, there is something oddly scary about the whole thing.  I don't mean that I am scared traveling by myself overseas, or scared navigating public transportation in a new country, or anything like that.  I mean, scary like "wow, this event is about to give birth to something VERY unknown".  It seems like an easy thing, going to a place you have always wanted to go.  However, it is a little bit like dating somebody for YEARS, over the internet, without EVER meeting.  Perhaps pictures have been exchanged, but no personal connection has been made yet.  There is a DESIRE burning in your gut to meet the other person.  

When it comes right down to it, my hands are a little sweaty, my heart is beating fast, I will be checking my makeup and my dress (to make sure it isn't all catywampus), and I feel NERVOUS.  

I have wanted to meet you, Ireland, for a LONG time.  I am SURE we will have a long and prosperous relationship.  This IS just the beginning.  I really look forward to getting through our first date without totally falling apart by feeling overwhelmed with emotion.  All in all, I know our meeting will be brilliant.