Nothing but blue skies

I finally painted something…It was a potato, carrot and some mint leaves I picked from the organic farm.

The Irish potato famine is a subject that hit me really hard during our year long program. Come to find out I have people who fled Ireland during the 1700’s from one of the hardest hit regions in Ireland, up near Sligo. I can only speculate that they fled because of the potato famine for we have no documentation of this other than they were here and then were in New York. This part of Irish history was particularly hard for me to digest during our year long studies. Especially when the entire horror could have been avoided if only a few shipping routes could have been spared.

I do not expect those that are reading my blog to comprehend the gambit of emotions I ran that winter quarter. But I will forever be haunted by the story of a young girl who ran alongside a carriage for at least 2 miles… She had no shoes, no food and was at the brink of starving. At first the men in the carriage thought it was funny that this girl was following them, wanting a hand out… The way I see it she must have stumbled a few times, I am sure her poor feet were bleeding and yet her spirit was strong enough to withstand the pain it took to ask for help for her and her family. Finally to end the suffering they tossed a few coins out the window which would have been enough to feed her family for one day… One day…

Now I am in Ireland and have had the opportunity to dig my own potatoes out of Irish soil. No blight is destroying the earth here… They were beautiful white and purple… grown with love… The emotion of digging these up was overwhelming and I think I am still attempting to grasp how large this one act is for me. To know that an entire branch of my past had to leave this beautiful land due to sickness, disease and poverty – that could have been avoided – is almost too much to digest.

The words of “it is shame only a few thousand of them died” and it was “providence” that brought the blight to Ireland echo through my head. And yet, today… here… now… There is life in this soil… There is hope, growth and re-birth. The people of Ireland know how to face adversity and they do so with ferocity I have not seen in the states. The farm we are staying in is employed by the people who live here and their sons and daughters. Like my ancestors before me they til the land, grow their crops and reap their harvest.

For today there is blue shining through the clouds. A promise from the earth that once again life will continue, life goes on, life finds a way. For this I am thankful for the day ahead and look forward to what journey I will take next.