Home Again, Back to Reality

Well, I'm back.

I was away for 24 days from home in Ireland and London but most of my time was spent in Northern Ireland.  I loved my time there in a land full of contradictions. Of violence and of peace. Of beauty and despair.

In other words, I felt at home.

It's really hard to even put into words what the experience was like.

We spent two weeks at Corrymeela. Corrymeela is a peace center in Ballycastle, which is on the Antrim coast and beautiful beyond words. It's on a cliff side facing Rathlin Island and you can see Scotland on a clear day.  I would sneak out at random times during the day and just stare out at the ocean and take it all in. However, Corrymeela isn't just beautiful because of the location but because of it's mission and the people that help make it happen. 

On my last night at Corrymeela I was treated to clear evening and a sunset. The sun finally said its final goodbye a little before midnight. I just keep walking in circles to take it all in.
 

Now I am home again, and slowly (but surely) coming back down into real life. Kids screaming, work, bills to pay, ya know, reality. It's not bad, it's just normal. Actually, I couldn't wait to get home. Those last 3-4 days were tough on me. I was ready to see my wife and kids.

I am already working on a travel blog but until then....here is a poem I wrote while I was at Corrymeela. In fact, this was one reason how I knew what I was experiencing was having an impact on me...I started writing poems again!

Enjoy. 

We were at Corrymeela one night,
after the Shabbat prayer,
When the Zimbabwean began to sing…
We sang as Israelis, Rwandans, Americans and Egyptians.
We sang as peace teachers, peace believers, peace dreamers, peace makers.
We were at Corrymeela one night,
when it occurred to me,
could we wrap this moment into a package and share it with the world?