We departed for Mom & Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary trip on July 4th; a fitting date to depart the U.S. for our ancestral homeland of Ireland. We congregated at Mom and Dad’s house and enjoyed the 4th together: Sean, Mel, Kate, and Brooke drove up from Maryland; Dev, Indira, Arjun, and I drove in from Jersey City; and Ann drove in from Manhattan.

The day was a typical 4th of July; barbecue, beer and wine, and plenty of salads at Mark’s annual Independence Day party.  The weather was hot, but sunny, with a sprinkling of rain while we ate an early dinner under the cover of one of Mark’s tents.

Then, 5:45pm.  The van arrived. The 14-passenger van that would take us to Newark Airport where we would depart for…IRELAND!

We took a selfie before we departed, as well as the van, and shared our status with Irish cousins on Facebook.