Tapadh leat! 8 weeks

Yesterday I had my Gaelic conversation with Donald, and we were talking about my upcoming move to Glasgow. He was waxing most eloquent about this opportunity in my life. "Do you know how lucky you are?" he asked me, then answered his own question by saying, "I don't think you can know." He even went so far as to tell me that I had a golden ball of opportunity (I had a delicious moment of feeling like Bella Wilfer in Our Mutual Friend, though of course, the golden balls in question are very different). He urged me to study Gaelic at the university, not just Archaeology, which I had been planning on doing.  The two departments work together very closely and one can even study two subjects at once. On this subject, too, he told me that I have a "unique ability. It is in your blood - in your very cells."

This conversation was very humbling to me, especially when he ended it by telling me I was the luckiest woman in the world. Because I thought, yes, I am. It has been a pipe dream of mine to live over in Scotland (or England) for years and years. A long time ago when I told my friend Kevin I wished I could move over there, he told me to read George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. But here at last I am about to embark on this glorious adventure, this amazing opportunity. And I need to give thanks, because I would not be here without the help of my family and friends. In time, love, money and support I have been borne along by my loved ones, and I am so grateful, because I wouldn't be going otherwise.

Tapadh leat! Moran taing!

Thank you! Many thanks!