Julie Helen: 'We just couldn't help but laugh at our run of luck'
"As we were preparing to spend a couple of nights apart from Ricky, David and I decided to take advantage of the child-free hours and stay in Killarney for a night," writes Julie.
Ricky, my son, was their first grandchild, then Peter came next, and just this week we excitedly await the next arrival.
January is quiet on the farm so I got a call from my dad, Tim, wondering if I would agree to let Ricky skip a Friday in school to go on a trip to Dublin to the Dinos Live exhibition.
My dad is aware that school attendance is monitored closely so he was willing to go on a weekend if I needed him to.
My mind immediately cast back to days as a child when we were given an exemption from school for ‘important family business’ and there really was nothing more satisfying than being off school with the blessing of my parents when everybody else was stuck in the classroom.
I wasn’t sure how Ricky would feel. He is only in junior infants so school is a magical place filled with fun. I was afraid he wouldn’t want to miss it.
When he heard that the trip involved a sleepover with Granny and Tim without parental supervision, a trip to Dublin and dinosaurs, he absolutely jumped at the chance.
As we were preparing to spend a couple of nights apart from Ricky, David and I decided to take advantage of the child-free hours and stay in Killarney for a night.
On our way there we had car trouble that saw us sitting on the side of the road for a couple of hours, and me having to ring roadside assistance twice in the space of a few months.
When we are in those situations, David is cool, calm and collected.
The following morning, we were chatting to a lovely couple, Dan and Mary, and we were telling them our plan for David to get the bus to Kerry Airport to hire a car to get us home and tide us over.
They very kindly offered to give David a spin to the airport on their way to Tralee.
They reminded me of how valuable kindness is.
The taximan, the man with the tow-truck, and everybody we met along the way were so kind to us and it makes all the difference, especially when things are going wrong.
There was a moment when we were sitting on the side of the road waiting for people to come and get us and we just couldn’t help but laugh at our run of luck, but also to realise that drama follows us, nothing is ever straightforward but we get through it.
When the taxi found us at the side of the road, we recounted our story and I told him that all I had wanted was a cocktail.
Later, as I gathered myself in the hotel, David organised a table for dinner and before long I was sipping said drink.
Not long after that, we got a phone call to say a stomach bug had hit my mum.
The next day my dad and brother fell victim to it, so we held our breath to see if Ricky would get it too.
He lasted a long while but eventually Granny rang to tell us to hold off for a few more days as Ricky had it too! What drama!
Ricky seemed delighted to have extra time in Woodside, and we stayed clear in hopes of escaping the bug!
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