Letter 26

8^th October 2014

Dear Catherine,

I went over to Ireland for the weekend; actually I left straight from work on Thursday to London City airport, which is my favourite, in London anyway.  It only takes 30 – 40 minutes to get there from the office and being a small airport there are not many people and no long walks to the airplane.  I spent the first two nights with Fiona – you remember your Uncle John’s wife in Dublin.  She is just really getting over his death now.  It rained all day on Friday, as it only seems to be able to do in Ireland and we went into town to a museum in the afternoon, had a meal in an Italian restaurant and then to the theatre in the evening.  It was still raining at the end of the day when we were coming home, but it didn’t matter, we had a great time. 

I then went up to a very attractive area of Ireland – Carlingford Lough where they had organised Gregor’s stag do.  There were 18 of us all Gregor’s age, including his three brothers, and me, but Gregor insisted I go to represent my generation, probably mainly as his dad had passed away.  We took over a really nice house on 3 floors looking out at the Lough and Mountains of Mourne, with beds for all.  Gavin, who organised it, arranged an introduction to Gaelic Games which brought back great memories for me.  We visited a whiskey distillery and had a talk from a local who reckoned the last leprechaun in Ireland lived in the hill behind the house!  Some lads cooked for us, we had champagne with our dinner, played drinking games and of course went to a local pub and night club in the evening.

Both Fiona and the four boys wondered how you are, disappointed that they don’t see you these days.  I can only say you look really well from your profile pictures on Facebook and that you did very well in your GCSE’s, although that is over a year ago.  I am sorry I don’t know which school you go to now so at least I can get reports of your progress.  It is very sad that we have been cut off from each other, in such a final way.  It is now over 2000 days since I have seen you.  It is like bereavement without any possibility understanding the separation because somehow we are still here, just an invisible wall separates us.  I often wonder if you ever think about me.  Maybe, by necessity you have blanked me out of your mind as there is nowhere you can fit me into your present life.  I would not be welcomed by those around you.  This makes things very difficult as contact with me would cause confusion and pain in your life.  I still imagine that, in your heart, maybe deep down, you do want to contact me, if only you can unlock that desire.  I pray that maybe when you go away to university next year these thoughts will come to you, or maybe you will meet someone who will awaken these thoughts.  I am certain I do not want to cause you pain or conflict with those about you, but I would want you to know I would dearly want to see you again and be reconciled to you.  So it is all down to my prayers and maybe yours too.

 With all my love for now,

dad  xxx                                                                           at work