Be

To be is to do.

~ Socrates 

(maybe he said it, maybe not)

I am an anti-lister. I refuse to even acknowledge that list that people make of things they want to see and do - like you are carrying this burden of "gottas" or at least "wannas." I don't gotta do anything. I am content.

I like the idea of a "life list" a little better. These are the things I've done - haven't I been lucky? But unspoken in that list is the concept of things being "missing."*

When I retired and people asked me if I had achieved my life goals, I can say a resounding "YES!" Female child of my times, I always wanted to be a mother.** I was gifted with three children who sometimes (probably more than reluctantly) are present in voice or photo on these pages.

I consider DH a bonus. I had thought I was going to have to find a donor of some kind, but fate and graduate school serendipitously planted him a few seats down in a mandatory seating chart row and there always seemed to be confusion about just which one of us was being addressed by the faculty.*** He ended up coming home with me (after a year or so) and has been, inter alia, a patient fellow and entertaining devil-dare.

My life was spent in public service and I continue as a volunteer so I'm not done there. But otherwise, I have no lists other than "what to get at the grocer" [currently: bell pepper, onion, cornmeal, celery, turmeric, diet soda and probably a few other things I'll remember when I am in the store] and my account passwords.

As we decide what we want to do with our time, we are guided by activities with the children and other family, volunteer opportunities, and whim.  Travel is easier now - no schedule - good pet care - Internet. My default setting is always Ireland and, without other suggestions, DH (accommodating fellow) generally agrees. He agreed again this year.****

I worry (irrational, I know) when planning a trip. Even as I know that any time in Ireland is a good time.

Let me say that again: ANY TIME IN IRELAND IS A GOOD TIME! [If you haven't been there, go! If you have, you know what I mean.]

On that long ago first overseas trip I met a young American woman who had been traveling for two years. She advised me that there was only one answer - say "yes." Opportunities only come up once. If there is no valid reason not to do it, say, "yes!" I took that advice to heart and have used it regularly. I would add - follow your instinct - trust your gut.

So I plan a little, know a few options, and try to be open to opportunity - to be present - to be.

This year we purchased a few tickets and got on the plane. We were off and on a tour bus for 9 days, but we really had only one thing that was almost on a "list."

We hoped to see the European Common Frog.

"A Frog?" you ask. Yes, a frog.

I wrote about this in an earlier post - how we were fairly certain we would have to stumble across one having never seen one on previous trips and unsure of where to find one.

But find them we did.

And we found other things as well - things we didn't know we were looking for - experiences we didn't know we wanted.

I joked with our friend and guide, John McDonnell, one day. I told him how I was checking things off of my list. "List? You have a list?" he asked. "Yes," I replied and showed him a blank piece of paper.

No, other than the frog, there was not a list. However, things happened on our visit that were little bits of magic. These were things that would have been on the list if we had only known/had only thought about it. So here is the "be list"  as it grew and the places where we saw or experienced each.

 Be List

(And where the check mark goes)

Orchids - St. Patrick's Well, Inis Oirr, Burren near Poulnabrone Dolmen, Dromore Wood, Burren National Park
Frogs - Garryland Reserve, Dromore Wood, Burren National Park
Run a shop - Clifden
Tree Creepers - St. Patrick's Well
Grey Heron - Clonmel, Cong, Dromore Wood, Kilmacduagh
Robins - everywhere
Lie down on the saint's grave - Kilmacduagh
Swim in the Atlantic - waded twice - Achill Island and Inis Oirr
Sing party piece - Clifden
Sheela Na Gig- Kilinaboy
Swans - Clonmel, Cahir, Galway City, Coole Park
Puffin - Atlantic Ocean off the Cliffs of Moher

[Goodness, I suspect there are more, but these will have to do for now. There's always a little magic.]

The only one not already mentioned or made subject of it's own post - or maybe just the weirdest - was running a shop [You haven't been reading if you thought it was the saint's grave].

In Clifden I was killing time and ended up in a shop where I chatted with the clerk - let's call her "Nuala." After a few minutes Nuala fretted that she needed to go to the bank. Now, it wasn't her shop. She was the landlady and was watching the shop for her tenant. I volunteered to watch the shop for a few minutes while Nuala ran out for change. A couple of folks came in and I watched for shoplifters and "talked up" a few of the items I thought were brilliant. Nuala came back in just as I began to worry about how I would conduct a sale.

There you go. And here are some photos (sorry, none of the shop).

Mute Swans and a signet! (Cahir)

Common Spotted Orchid (St. Patrick's Well)

Pyramidal Orchid (Inis Oirr)

Sheela above the entrance to Kilnaboy Church ruins. She hard to see.

Sheela Na Gig ***** (Kilnaboy)

European Common Frog (Burren National Park)

More Mute Swans (Coole Park)

Saint's Grave (Kilmacduagh)

European Robin (Garryland Reserve)

Grey Heron (Cong)

NOTES:

* Here I suppose I am thinking of those life lists of birds observed or the maps of states or countries visited. Hand-in-hand with the things seen comes all those unseen and thus their presence on the unwritten and unspoken "other" list.

** I "got" to do a lot of other things, as well. But "be a mother" was the goal.

***We would look at the professor, then each other, and then back at the professor. Fear moved to interest and, eventually, love. [At least this is the story we have told for so many years that, if not the truth, it is as close to the truth as possible now.]

****Recent conversations about 2018 are also heading that direction.

*****https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheela_na_gig