I spend a lot of time in Sligo. My first job was in Sligo as a teacher in Summerhill College. It was during the last recession and I was lucky to get a part-time job teaching Irish and History. I was thrilled to be leaving the dark drumlins of Kavanagh country and doing things like walking beaches, attending trad sessions etc. It was also my first taste of real independence. There were no bus or train routes from Carrickmacross to Sligo. This meant that the purchase of a car was justified! I was so proud of my Daihatsu  Charade! Often after school a few colleagues and I would walk the beach at Rosses Point and have a pint in Austies. I was young and innocent. It was a lovely time.

I still spend many weekends in Sligo. And many weeks during the summer months. I don’t know what it is but I am drawn there. Maybe it was because it was such a happy time in my life. Maybe we are drawn towards happy chapters in our book of life. Often psychologists help people prepare to revisit dark places from their past – to help them make better sense of what happened them and walk through the darkness with new resilience. I am doing the opposite I suppose. I am revisiting a happy time and reclaiming it.

I still spend many weekends in Sligo. And many weeks during the summer months. I don’t know what it is but I am drawn there. Maybe it was because it was such a happy time in my life. Maybe we are drawn towards happy chapters in our book of life.