My Irish Luck

A very good friend of mine who is a smart, strong woman (duh! all my friends are strong and smart!) gave me some simple, yet poignant advice over the weekend. I have been feeling out of sorts after returning from my trip to Ireland (more on that below) trying to catch up on stuff at work and regular household matters and told her in frustration that, “I was behind on life.” To which she responded, “As long as you are enjoying life, that’s all that matters.” Her advice was so sound and practical that after she said it, I kind of felt like a moron for beating myself up about silly stuff that was on my to-do list. One of the not-so-silly items on my to-do list though was to tell everyone about my trip to Ireland. And even though I wish I could recreate the experience day by day for everyone, I’m just going to give you the highlights:

The Top 10 Things About My Trip To Ireland

10) The people in Ireland are probably some of the nicest people you will ever meet. They might even be nicer than my folks from the Midwest. I did not meet a single person that gave even the slightest indication that he or she may be an asshole.

9) Speaking of nice people, every single caddie I had over there made me want to be life-long pen pals with them. Side note: that was my first time EVER having a caddie. All the caddies knew that we were all Veterans and were all genuinely interested in our stories and our lives. They gave some great golf advice to boot, but mostly I just appreciated the fact that they were genuine, caring, and friendly people. Most of mine knew that I sucked at golf and stuck with me through the most horrid of shots.

8) The golf courses are absolutely beautiful. Golf is not my favorite sport and to be honest, some days I would rather have simply walked the 18 holes and enjoyed the scenery. The courses are different from the ones in the US as they are all “links” courses meaning that they are built on land that was once underwater. That being said, all the courses we played on were right near the ocean and the views were breathtaking. Oh, we also played at Royal Portrush, which will be the site of the 2019 British Open!

7) The food was actually quite amazing. I had been warned prior to my trip that Irish food was not great and I was expecting bangers and mash or shepard’s pie every single night. I’m sure part of it was due to the fact that we stayed and ate at pretty high end golf clubs, but the food was WAY better than I expected. Every night we got to pick an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert from a custom menu. Many of you who know me know I usually try to stay away from desserts but I had dessert EVERY single night! Oh, and the traditional Irish breakfasts each morning were an added bonus. For some reason, I really liked the porridge over there and had it almost every single day. And the soda bread? Oh EM GEEE!!!!

6) We got to see the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. This is geological wonder along the coast that was the result of a volcanic eruption. I’ve never seen anything like it. The rocks are like hexagonal, interlocking columns. Legend has it that a warrior used to use the Causeway to jump back and forth from Ireland and Scotland.

5) We had a pretty jam-packed schedule with 18 holes of golf each day and Veterans Yoga and seminars at night but we did manage a night out. Well, I managed one night out. A couple others in the group managed many more nights out but I am boring and like to sleep. The night that I did go out, we went to a local pub. There were like 3 people in the bar and the music stopped when 15 or so of us walked in. However, remember the Irish people are super nice and friendly, so the music quickly picked back up and the booze started flowing for us. There was a guy playing for free at the bar that evening who had a guitar, a harmonica, and an amazing voice. He played all the traditional Irish songs which were all very lovely. After he played them, he would explain the history or significance of them.

4) As I said above, we played 18 holes of golf every day and then had yoga and seminars every night. If you are a Veteran and/or into yoga at all, you need to google the Veteran’s Yoga Project. The basic idea is that Veterans can use yoga as therapy versus constantly relying on prescription medication for issues related to PTSD. This form of yoga for me was amazing. I used to do hot yoga but got stressed out because it was kind of competitive. Let me tell you, there is no stress with Veteran’s Yoga. You can simply sleep through it and there is no judgment from the instructor or your classmates. It’s all about accepting what your body can do and what it needs at that moment. Even the guys I was with said that they were going to look into doing yoga upon their return. Not to be stereotypical but in general, I wouldn’t expect this response from a group of male Veterans.

3) There was a psychologist on the trip who moderated most of the seminars. He also served as everyone’s confidante on and off the golf course. He works at a Vet Center in California and did such a great job with all the seminars that he made me want to refer more of my Veteran friends to Vet Centers. If most of the staff at Vet Centers are like him, our Vets are in pretty good hands. Having a degree in counseling, I’d actually consider working at one myself in the future.

2) I met some pretty phenomenal fellow Vets. Some had heartbreaking stories and some had motivational stories but regardless we ALL had stories through which we connected and bonded. There was the guy who used to be a drug addict after taking all the drugs the VA continuously prescribed for his post deployment issues and then detoxed and got his life together on his own accord. There was the guy who lost his leg in an ammunition training accident but then went on to work 20 years at the VA and play two sports in the Paralympics. And there was my roommate, the only other female on the trip, who has made it through two tough deployments as a medic AND lost three of her babies at birth. After only a week, I felt like I had known these people all of my life and I knew that we would do anything for each other. Even though there was no need to protect each other (the Irish are so nice!) we always had each other’s’ backs.

1) I learned that I still suck at golf BUT that I’ll probably always suck at golf and that is A-OKAY! Golf is a good sport for me because it helps me deal with my tendency to be a perfectionist. The trip taught me to ACCEPT where I am at in the moment with my golf game. Similarly, we must often do that with our lives in general. ACCEPT where we are at and just try to tee up and take the next shot.