Joe Jencks

Joe's Notes

Off to Ireland!!!

Howdy!

I am off to Ireland!!!

Some of the trip will be professional, playing and researching how to tour successfully over there... but more of this is personal. It is the fruition of a dream that has been in my heart since childhood. My whole life I have identified with the Irish side of the family, and I am so eager to be in a place where people seem familiar. I don't want to over romanticize the Irish... as we americans tend to do... But, the Irish have developed an amazing culture over the centuries, and it is very exciting to finally get to go! These are my people... and am going home for the first time!

This is where I will post info about the trip while I am gone. I leave tomorrow from Chicago via Detroit. Many thanks to Cousin Terry Kilbride for the encouragement to get to Ireland, and for the logistical support.

My Granddad Felix came over from County Kildare in 1914. He was able to return once in the mid 1960's before he passed away. I never met Felix Kilbride, as I was not born till 1972. But his love of Ireland was very present in my mother, who never did get to go to Ireland herself.

When my plane tickets showed up in the mail, I had an unexpected reaction... I cried. See, my mother Kathleen Kilbride Jencks passed away in 1996. My finally getting to Ireland feels like it is a completion of a circle... and a chance for me to bring something of my mother back to a home she always wanted to go to. Her favorite Irish song was - I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen.

Anyway... check in here regularly for updates and some fresh pics of Ireland!

Cheers!

:-)

•Joe