random blessings

You know how your brain can remember the most random memories? I think that is so rad. My Gram has been more on my mind since she passed away a couple of weeks ago, but.... a week or so ago I was busy with the girls, and just going about my day when, all of a sudden, this memory overcame me. It was when I was litle, at my grandparents house before they moved to the farm...and they had a sidewalk that ran downhill between their house & their garage/workshop. We used to take out little toys that you could ride on & race them down the sidewalk. For some reason I always had either a cinnamon or butterscotch candy in my mouth....and I remember repeatedly choking on those candies while racing down the sidewalk. But I was also able to remember the smell of that garage....the cool, grey smell of the concrete...so random but so vivid! Also, a certain Irish blessing has been my favorite for several years. I have always identified most with my Irish ancestry, and found out at Gram's service that I have even more Irish blood than I ever knew. I even saved up $$ before one of our trips to Boston to purchase a framed copy of this blessing at the Irish store at Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market shops. But I have never figured out where I knew the blessing from....only that I loved it. Well, this last Sunday night I was working on getting Caroline to sleep & was getting pretty frustrated with her. So to calm myself, I just shut my eyes & started repeating the blessing over & over: May the road rise to meet you May the wind be always at your back May the sun shine warm upon your face The rains fall softly upon your fields And, until we meet again May God hold you in the palm of His hand. And that's when it hit me. EPIPHANY! I could see it, a white trinket with a black, lattice frame. With that blessing in black, Celtic font....and green shamrocks around the words. It was hanging on the wall in my grandparents' kitchen at the farm! That Irish blessing that I loved for years, that comes to mind every St. Patrick's Day, and that I couldn't get out of my head when Gram had her stroke & died....I knew it from the trinket in HER kitchen, and I can only assume she purchased it from her & my grandpa's trip to Ireland in August of 1976 (they were there when I was born). Wonderful blessings of memories....things I didn't realize were treasured away in my brain....