Redheads On The Emerald Isle

In Thorton Wilder's play Our Town , Julia Gibbs confesses to her neighbor and friend that she is going to sell a piece of furniture to save for a legacy.  She wants to use this legacy to travel to Paris because she wants to "visit a country where they don't speak English and they don't even want to." But, she never gets to go.  In the final scene, which takes place in the cemetery, the audience finds out that her son and daughter-in-law inherited the "legacy" and used the money to purchase an automatic watering trough for the farm. Now having a small farm that raises animals, I appreciate the purchase of anything that improves the farm, helps the animals or makes things easier on me.  But, George and Emily's purchase makes me sad.  Not that the money went for something practical.  We have all made those decisions, weighing wants and needs.  What makes me sad it that Julia never got to see Paris.  She never saw another country and died with an unfulf...

The movie P.S. I Love You came out when I was a junior in high school.  My friends fell in love with Gerard Butler and the tear-inducing love story.  I fell in love as well, but not with the story or any of the actors, but with Ireland.  I had an interest in Ireland before, because of the probable Irish heritage I have and being the proud owner of red hair, but this was something different. I watched the movie, intent on the beautiful landscapes, scenery, and accents, and that's when I decided. I wanted to visit Ireland someday. Fast-forwarding to my senior year of college, which was many BBC shows and Ireland-based movies afterward, and my mother and I had concocted a plan that we would take a trip to Ireland for my graduation.  At this point she, with some encouragement from me, wanted to see the country as well.  However, as with life, priorities and practicality won out and, while I definitely do not wish things differently in the least and am ever-grateful...