Ireland trip

For the past few months I've been debating whether I will go to Ireland this summer. For the most part, I've brushed the idea aside for several reasons. First off, I was blessed to go on an 11-day tour of Ireland with Grandma, Grandpa, my mom, and my sister in August of 2005. We stayed at Nora's in County Mayo, Grandpa, my mom and I successfully reached the summit of Croagh Patrick together. We also saw Dublin and Killarney. It was an extremely memorable and wonderful trip, I will never forget pushing Grandpa up the Holy summit that symbolizes so much of his spirituality and faith, nor will I forget Grandma's ability to know the oral history of every every village and street we visited, and how could I forget Abbey's ability to "Baa" in the car for 4 hours straight on the windy roads strewn with sheep on both sides. It was a trip of a lifetime--really, it was.

Regarding the upcoming trip, I've been in the mindset of, "I've done this before", "it's expensive", and as a new member of the work force (the sooner I'm back in school the better!), I put a high value on the limited resource that is known as "vacation days". There are other things playing into it as well, applications for medical school are rolling through in August, the new batch of interns could really use my help at that time, etc.

Recently, I came to the realization that I have not been putting enough value on what this trip really is about. It's not about "Ireland" per se, it's not about Grandpa's 80th birthday (his birthday is not even in August!), and it's not even about Abbey climbing Croagh Patrick. It's about family.

Honestly, how many opportunities do we have in life to travel together? Let alone as one big family to the place of our heritage? Many of those going on this trip I only have the chance to see at either weddings and funerals, wouldn't it be nice to get to know them more outside of these rather formal contexts? How awesome is it to have a chance to gather for the pure enjoyment of being a family? How many chances will there be in life to do something like this? What wonderful memories we'll be able to share for years to come? For some, this may sound a bit cliche, but really, how awesome of a chance. Looking at the big picture, instead of focusing on the immediate logistics, helped me to realize how fortunate I am to have this opportunity and how I should take full advantage of it. The logistical realities are still true and valid, but are so small in the big scheme of things.

This past year I've worked very closely with women diagnosed with breast cancer, some of which has been very serious disease. While this experience has increased my passion for medicine, it's also made me think about other things as well. If there is anything I've learned from talking with these women, it's the importance of priorities in life. It shouldn't take a life-threatening disease to reevaluate our priorities, to realize how we've been swept up in logistics, burdens, and constraints instead of doing what we truly we want to do. I talk with women who are facing a cancer that can't be cured, that has spread to their brains, their lungs, their bones, and I see what they want, what they cherish, what's really important at the end of the day. At the end of the day, it's all about family. We have our ambitions, our goals and passions, but we're social animals, we want to be there to create memories and experiences with our family and those we love...From this experience, I think it's important that we are constantly evaluating our purpose, our roles, our actions and how they play into the bigger picture, of what brings us happiness and what brings those we love happiness and satisfaction. To me, it doesn't matter if we go to Ireland or Death Valley, Ireland is a nice perk, but just getting together with so many relatives is a wonderful opportunity that I do not want to miss out on.

And, truth be told, someone's got to be there to photograph Grandpa when he's tied to a rope between Pat and Mike climbing up Croagh Patrick... :)

In the spirit of all things Irish, I'll close with the old Irishman's Philosophy...

There are only two things to worry about:
Either you are well or you are sick.
If you are sick,
Then there are only two things to worry about:
Either you will get well or you will die.
If you get well,
Then there are only two things to worry about:
Either you will go to heaven or hell.
If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about.
But if you go to hell,
You'll be so damn busy shaking hands with friends
You won't have time to worry!