I remember as a child that partings and farewells involved all of us standing outside the large green gate that hid us from the road and waving to those leaving. We would stand and wave until the disappeared around the curve at the top of the road or if they chose the coast road we would wave as the disappeared down the hill around the corner towards the sea. But just as they were about to be seen no more, my mother would turn her head and tell us to do the same. "If you want to see them again", she would say, "look away just before you lose sight of them".
When I tried for the third time to leave home, all my other attempts had been thwarted by my mother, I was thinking only of the adventure. This time my Father was the one who came down on my side. He told Mammy. "The first time she wanted to leave was to join her friend in London, you stopped that. The second time was to work in an English language school in France you stopped that. Now it's to work in Zurich. Next time it might be Australia and you may not be able to prevent it. Let her go." My Mother finally gave in.
The tickets were ready. A suitcase was the next consideration. My Uncle told my Mother to go to O'Neills and get a suitcase on his "account". That meant it was a gift. In O'Neills I spotted the suitcase I wanted within a minute. It was red, magenta red. My Mother himmed and hawwed. Obviously it was too flashy. But I persisted. Later with suitcase we went to Uncle's office to show it to him. It seemed he agreed with Mammy. "That wasn't the one I thought of for you". Still the attempt to control. I prevailed.
On the day I was to leave, we drove to Dublin airport. To the last moment, my mother kept up
I remember as a child that partings and farewells involved all of us standing outside the large green gate that hid us from the road and waving to those leaving. We would stand and wave until the disappeared around the curve at the top of the road or if they chose the coast road we would wave as the disappeared down the hill around the corner towards the sea. But just as they were about to be seen no more, my mother would turn her head and tell us to do the same. "If you want to see them again", she would say, "look away just before you lose sight of them".
When I tried for the third time to leave home, all my other attempts had been thwarted by my mother, I was thinking only of the adventure. This time my Father was the one who came down on my side. He told Mammy. "The first time she wanted to leave was to join her friend in London, you stopped that. The second time was to work in an English language school in France you stopped that. Now it's to work in Zurich. Next time it might be Australia and you may not be able to prevent it. Let her go." My Mother finally gave in.
The tickets were ready. A suitcase was the next consideration. My Uncle told my Mother to go to O'Neills and get a suitcase on his "account". That meant it was a gift. In O'Neills I spotted the suitcase I wanted within a minute. It was red, magenta red. My Mother himmed and hawwed. Obviously it was too flashy. But I persisted. Later with suitcase we went to Uncle's office to show it to him. It seemed he agreed with Mammy. "That wasn't the one I thought of for you". Still the attempt to control. I prevailed.
On the day I was to leave, we drove to Dublin airport. To the last moment, my mother kept up
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