Well I said the other day I would write a post about my son and give him a post to himself. Robert is now nearly 18, born on July 25th,1998, just 2 days after my own birthday. It’s hard being 4000 miles away from him, especially this year as it is his final year in secondary school, which is equivalent to high school, and is doing his Leaving Cert exams in June.
I got separated from Robert’s Mam when he was only 4 and it was quite difficult but we managed to do a good job and raise a very level headed, polite and good young man. As he has grown up he has become accustomed to me living elsewhere but moving to the States was always going to be different so along with the support of my parents, having Robert on board from early in the process was very important. Robert got to chat to Leanne on the the phone before she visited in July and Robert was with us when we done the official engagement.
We used to go to the football a lot together and watch St Patrick’s Athletic, well Robert would watch as I took photos. To be able to share football matches with Robert is something I miss a lot. It was our thing. Well that and trains. One of our best memories together was when we got to go to the Isle of Man for 10 days in 2011 and went on the trams and steam trains nearly every day. That’s a memory I will hold onto forever as it was the only holiday out of Ireland that we took together. Robert has been to America before, but it’s unlikely he remembers as he was only 8 months old when we visited Martha’s Vineyard.
It’s funny that I waited my whole life to see St Patrick’s Athletic win the FAI Cup and the year before I left Ireland they managed to win it, and we managed to get a photo taken with it during the year. All these are memories that I will cherish. Hopefully this July Robert will make the trip across the Atlantic and we will get to spend 6 weeks together and catch up properly. We do chat on the phone regularly and it’s great having Skype and being able to do video calls.
I miss my son lots and can’t wait to see him in July this year. It’s a big year for him with his exams coming up and hopefully a college place next September. He is doing the work so I hope it works out for him and he gets the course he really wants.
