“Whereever you go,
Whatever you do,
May the Angels watch over you.”

Between the completion of my masters degree thesis and taking final exams, I spent three months living in a bucolic Irish hamlet just outside of Dublin.

In the mornings, the soft bleating of sheep in the pastures next to my house awakened me. And at night, depending on the weather, I would open the upstairs bedroom window and gaze at the planetarium of stars twinkling above and all around me.

Recovering from a vigorous bout of bronchitis, this time spent in this idyllic countryside was my therapy.  For exercise I walked the undulating green grass oval at Punchestown Race Course, passing by a circle of standing stones enshrouded by groves of trees.

I was forty when I received my passport and took my first flight to England on my own to attend Royal Ascot and the Irish Derby. I returned the next year for a career change, and lived in London for two years while obtaining my masters degree.

Living on one’s own in a different land has challenges each day, and in embracing those challenges, I found out about myself.

Featured image, “Angel in the Sky”, from the Healing Spirit Art© Collection of positive, inspirational, life-affirming fine art photography, writing and music 🎶  by Teri Leigh Teed.

To learn more about a very special pilgrimage, see “Mystical South Carolina: A Pilgrimage to Joy”