GHOSTS OF IRELAND
My brother and I were not friends. We weren’t enemies, and we were friendly; We had fun at family functions, called each other once in awhile, but we weren’t friends. We didn’t confide in one another, spend one-on-one time together, or have many experiences together as adults.
As we learned during a stretch of awful events, relationships end and parents fall ill and people pass away. What remains in the end is family, still there, even if untended to for some time.
In October 2018 I asked my brother to go to Ireland with me. We needed to make memories together as adults that didn’t involve crises. We needed to get to know each other as individuals, with stories and personalities and histories independent of our shared history. We needed to confront our shared history, the reality of death, and a future that ties us together.
My brother said we should dress as ghosts. He gave no reason. In the spirit of forging ties, I said yes without asking questions.
What followed was Ghosts of Ireland; an exploration of family history, confrontation, death, and (like most people with Irish heritage) a dark sense of humour.
