It’s Friday, May 12. It’s been two weeks since returning from our London/Wales trip. I’ve been thinking about that trip every day since, and thought I should write down some thoughts. First of all, do you know how it feels when a vacation doesn’t go the way you had planned, and isn’t as exciting as you had hoped? This wasn’t like our trip.
This trip met or exceeded every expectation I had of it. I found the trip exciting, restful, awe-inspiring and downright fun. Somehow, despite everything I ate and drank, I lost five pounds, so that was definitely a plus! And yet, despite everything I did and said, I came back married to the same woman I left with, despited numerous instances of climate-change and being introduced to the smell of vanilla, even though I have no sense of smell!
As we sat on our twin beds in the Radisson Blu Heathrow, we talked about the trip. I asked Robin what her favorite part was. I thought she would have said the High Tea in Kensington, but she said her favorite part was The Play That Goes Wrong in The Duchess Theatre in London’s West End. I figured it would have been something in London. Opposites attract, apparently, and I married a big-city girl. She likes everything about big cities; they’re hustle, the big-city lights, the things you can do. She likes plays and fancy to-dos like high teas. She grew up on a farm, but farming is definitely NOT for her. Me? All country, baby! Give me open skies, mountains, rivers and streams. I could definitely see myself being a sheep herder. I’m small town, everybody-knows-everybody-else kind of guy. Big cities exhaust me. My threat radar is always on, and hyper-vigilance is very tiring.
In line with that, my favorite part of our vacation was the Fairy Glen. It was there that I felt the most connection with the land, and certainly laying a part of my parents to rest there had a large part of my feeling. I loved Conwy. I loved the pubs, the people we met. I loved the mountains, the valleys, the sea. I loved being around things that oozed history. Being around human artifacts that were 12,000 years old was an amazing experience. Attending a church service in an 800+ year old church was amazing. Visiting different castles was an awesome experience. Looking from a mountain at the wonders God has wrought on a small part of the land He formed with His hand was a humbling, and awe-inspiring, experience. I would go back to Wales in a Conwy minute!
We are all humans beings, and as such we have regrets. I regret that our change in the soccer schedule shorted Robin’s time in London. I know there were things she would have loved to see. Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey, I know she wanted to ride the London Eye. Maybe another play. We visited the St. Paul’s Cathedral gift shop, I’m sure she would have wanted to visit the cathedral itself.
I regret not being able to hear live music in a Welsh pub. I didn’t get a chance to have a conversation in Welsh, which I have been studying for a year. I regret not eating the cost of our Hotel Football reservation to go see Wrexham win promotion to the English Football League. I regret taking Robin on the walk on Conwy’s Castle Wall. I regret we couldn’t stay longer.
Back in October, I posted a blog on hireath, a blend of homesickness, nostalgia and longing. It’s a pull on the heart that conveys a distinct feeling of missing something irretrievably lost. I thought I had it before. But having been where we’ve been, I sit here now and feel it in spades. Wales captured my heart and my soul. It is my hope that one of my children will do me the honor I did for my parents, and spread my ashes at the Fairy Glen. I can then be part of the land I have come to love.
That’s what this trip did to me.
Mae gwlad Cymru wedi cyffwrdd fy nghalon yn ddwfn.
Meditations of a Bald, Fat Guy 