3-19-23 A Cool Breeze Blew off the Irish Sea and....


 

A Cool Breeze Blew off the Irish Sea and…..

Carrie Keiser


A cool breeze blew off the Irish Sea and Bridget closed her eyes, she was transported back in time to a day three years ago when she stood in this very spot on Ballinesker Beach. Bridget stood, eyes closed, breathing in the salty air and reliving the moment. In her mind, she could hear the weaves crashing and the children playing nearby, feel the warm sun counteracting the early fall wind. A smile slowly spread across her face and she sank down into the warm sand. 

Bridget was back in that one perfect moment with her family. The moment when all the world was right and it seemed that nothing would ever change. She had come here today to center herself, draw those memories to the forefront of her mind and ponder on how quickly things can change.  

It started out as an ordinary day at the beach the last before the return to school and work and before the cool of fall/winter set in, one last vacation. The trip to Ballinesker Beach had been everything they had wanted it to be, like a fairy tale. No warning of what lay just beyond her vision. 

In the late afternoon, Bridget and her family loaded up their Kia and headed back home to Castlebridge. The short drive was pleasant and uneventful. As her husband, Cian (key-inn), rounded the last bend and their home came into view, that’s when the perfect day came crashing down around them. The street was chaos, there were officers and firemen everywhere and only a smoldering pile of rubble where their house once stood. 

So many emotions got all jumbled up and filled the car as Cian brought the car to a stop.  The children, Eamon (aim-on) and Múireann (mwir-in), stared in shocked silence, while Bridget and Cian slowly exited the vehicle.  It was incomprehensible that they could have left the house this morning and all was in order to return a few hours later to find nothing left. What would they do where would they live? These and many more questions filled Bridget’s mind. 

Bridget shook her head and was once again sitting in the sandy beach. She reached out and grabbed a handful of sand and let the grains slowly fall through her fingers. What seemed like the worst day of their lives had led them down path they otherwise would not have taken. 

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