WHAT RINGS TRUE…PART ONE,,,
Am sitting on a porch in Ohio on an extended visit with my former boyfriend soon to be husband.
Sort of intoxicating sitting out here…quiet except for the birds…the occasional car…the guy across the street mowing his lawn…another guy barefoot and dressed just in his boxers throwing out the garbage and waving to another unseen neighbour…and the dog walkers who wave at me when they pass by.
I’m a New Yorker. We don’t...wave.
But...I’m acclimating. I wave. When on a walk I’ve even been known to say hi…in the beginning only if someone said it first but now I’m a bit more spontaneous.
And I’m thinking about the ring.
Bit of a backstory here…
Two years ago Ron and I were interviewed by a lady in Ireland who was interested in learning about the Deaf Community and then discovered the not as well known… and often hidden…Coda community. She invited us to Ireland to do a TEDx talk…together…because our growing up experiences are so diametrically opposite.
I will write about this separately…but right now what’s important is that trip to Ireland. I had never been overseas. Never wanted to travel there. I considered all of Europe as one big Jewish graveyard.
And one of the first things I learned about Ron was… he lives to travel!!
And as for me…I live to perform!!
So…here we are…crossroads.
Too many words later…or long story shortened…we went to Ireland. And then to the UK…and the next year to Amsterdam and the Anne Frank house and to France and the Eiffel Tower (that thing is HUGE!!) and to Normandy for the D Day Celebration where I found Stars Of David in the cemetery of soldiers.
And along the way we stayed at four places with good and loving friends of Ron who are now good and loving friends of mine.
It was another world for me. Or perhaps the opening of another world.
And no matter what happened…anything that went even slightly askew…I never accused or complained or blamed Ron for anything because he made ALL of the arrangements. EVERTHING. My job was to write that script for the talk and after that I was more than happy to leave all the planning to him. And somehow…it always worked out.
That first trip to Ireland is where I found out about the Claddagh ring.
TO BE CONTINUED….
Always, I hear your pieces as if they were being read out loud to me. Such a natural flow.
ReplyDeleteI liked the part about Europe being "one big Jewish graveyard." Sad truth, but well-worded. So neat to hear the narrator's journey with the Claddagh ring.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the part about waving on the front porch, not something that's done too often in NY.
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