We ended our time in Dublin in July of this year and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to write this final blog post. I started it and stopped it a half dozen times in the weeks leading up to our move. I think what made me hesitant to post was that we didn’t have anything concrete to talk about in regards to our move back home.
We spent several months looking at houses remotely and flying over for long weekends to tour dozens and dozens of properties. We made offers on at least five houses and were even under contract through inspection on one. But every single time the deal would fall through, and we left Ireland not knowing what would happen come the first day of school in September. I must admit, it felt like we failed our kids (and ourselves) somehow. All that time spent for nothing.
So, we gave ourselves one more week; if we did not find a house to buy within seven days of landing in Minnesota, we would rent the first halfway-decent house we could find and be done with the search for the foreseeable future. And somehow the first house we finally looked at together in person was the house we ended up buying. It was fate; this house was waiting for us all along. We bought from the most wonderful sellers who still come over to help us out with the property. All the stress of the spring and early summer just fell away once we moved into this house, which we all think is the exact perfect place for us to be for the next 10+ years.
And now the uncertainty of the first few weeks of school are behind us, and the boys have settled into a new routine and are making good friends. It almost feels like we never lived abroad again at all sometimes, but then I remember just how recent it really was!
It was no secret that Ireland was not my favorite place to live. The weather is bad a lot of the time, we didn’t have family there, and the housing always left something to be desired. I originally restarted this blog when we moved to Dublin because I thought my experience in Ireland would be just like living in China. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I wanted this blog to help me as much as it helped me when we lived in Shanghai. But as I went to post this final piece, I realized it had been over a year since I said anything at all. This means of communication didn’t serve me the way I thought it would, and that’s OK. We teach our kids to go out for the team, take the music lessons, try the thing that scares them the most. But we must do that too. We must try to make our lives more fulfilling, more interesting, more exciting wherever we are. I don’t particularly like having my thoughts out there for anyone to read, but I did it anyway because I felt like it made me understand and appreciate our experience in Ireland more fully. But along the way my community involvement outweighed my desire to reflect. I chose action over reflection. So “quitting” the blog wasn’t a failure, just a pivot to other things that made my time better.
For 18 months I volunteered at the Sandymount Community Centre, doing everything from answering phones and emails to planning several 600+ person community events, and everything in between. I met and befriended the loveliest people at the Centre, and I was sad to leave behind everything I helped build.
Through my time as a general member and then board member of the American Women’s Club of Dublin I made friends with so many amazing women whom I consider good, lifelong friends. I still truly miss those in-person connections and all the laughter.
Besides goodbye visits with friends, the best thing we did to end our time in Europe was show off Ireland and London to our friends from the US. The eight of us had countless laughs, several housing mishaps, met a few daring sheep, and rolled up to one misidentified golf course in just six days of travel. Each day was more memorable than the last, and I think ultimately that’s what we envisioned when we accepted the job in Ireland. The ability to create incredible memories with friends and family made all the daily frustrations palatable.
Do I miss things about Ireland that we don’t have anymore? Absolutely. But do I know this was the right decision at the right time for our family? 100%. We only get one go of it in this life, and I don’t regret any of our moves. But sometimes knowing when to leave a place that doesn’t serve you is even more important than deciding to stay.
Ireland will always have a special place in my heart, but as I look out our windows at the sunlight highlighting the orange, red, and yellow leaves of fall in our new house, I know this place is now our forever home. And what a gift to have forever to look forward to.
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