Since I had been working from home on my book during the break between semesters, I did not hear a December message until school started up again last week. I had the most wonderful surprise in a call from someone my husband and I met in Ireland this summer. Unfortunately, he did not leave his name or number, so I could not call back. So as not to startle me he prefaced his message with, “It was just a moment in time, no panicking…,” then said that he’d just found my card and it made him laugh, so he thought he’d give a ring and see how I had made out trying to find my ancestors, my Mahers, and the whole lot of them that I was looking for. He said the name of a pub, but I couldn’t place it. “It was just a moment in time that no one will ever know about,” he said, and I thought about the moments and conversations in the several pubs we stopped in throughout our stay. Now I’ll try to find the names of them and drop a note to those I can track down. Of all things not to have jotted down, the names of the pubs!

Now I guess I know where Chris’ title came from for her blog. “It’s just a moment in time” must be a common Irish saying. I have been thinking about the phrase, so Zen, so mindful, the idea of all the noticed and savored moments that make up the best parts of the big picture of our lives. This phone message was such a gift for the new year, a beautiful touchstone of kind and good energy in the accent I’ve come to love so much. It’s saved to listen to at any other moment that I may need a smile of my own.

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

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