The tulips are gone. The weather turned a corner and I shed my daily sweater layer. We witnessed community clean-up days; people pruned their shrubs, bushes and trees; or painted their house fronts. The sound of birds fills the air, the trees are greening, roses fill walkways, everything is in bloom or soon ready to break forth. Tour bus traffic has increased on the roads since when we first arrived. Ireland has readied itself for the tourist season, just as we prepared to pack up and leave. It is a different place than when we arrived.

Red Roses of Tralee

Yellow Roses or Tralee

We’ve enjoyed two months in County Kerry, and enjoyed the people we’ve met, gotten to know and hope to maintain relationships with.

The current stage is of goodbyes with the question, “when will we see you again?” The answer is in God’s hands.

Friends from home are asking, when you return?

Life activities on both sides of the Atlantic are calling.

Goodbyes are never easy as they pull on heart strings.

We leave with many memories.

A piece of my heart remains here and a piece of my heart is calling me home.

If you were to ask what my thoughts are, Bittersweet is the answer.