The Liam force and the loving thoughts from friends and family helped us make it through the day yesterday.
It was rough.
I don't think Bill and I exchanged more than a couple of short sentences through the first part of the day as we drove the beautiful Ring of Kerry and tried to process the "nightmare" from hours before.
It was a weighty process of putting one foot in front of the other, but as the day wore on, we were able to let the sheer beauty, especially that of Valentia Island, soothe our souls and sort out our tired minds.
Liam was with us and, in the land where some of "Star Wars" was filmed, his inimitable force helped us regain some sense of normalcy.
We drove to the top of a mountain on the island. It's hard not to find a beautiful place in Ireland, but this spot in the southwest on a sunny, pleasant October day was nothing short of therapeutic.
Its magnificence may come through in the photos, but being there and experiencing long moments of pleasant and amazing awe felt peaceful and comforting after the night we had spent.
Our family visited Valentia Island in 2014. At that time, we walked past St. Brendan's Well and chuckled whenever one of us would stumble and fall because of an unseen hole in the tall, wet grass. It happens a lot in that kind of Irish terrain.
Yesterday, the grass wasn't so tall, but it was wet and mushy, and steps needed to be taken carefully to get closer to the best views of the magnificent land and sea below us.
If Liam was with us, he surely found Heaven below with a series of huge, tidy green fields dotted with sheep.
It was a tough day, but Annie's advice was spot on. Keep going and take our beloved dog's spirit with us.
The days ahead won't be easy as we face our return home to see and feel the reality of one less beloved in the family.
Our perspective, though, will be different because we'll know that we left a bit of Liam's sweet and energetic spirit here in Ireland.
Enjoy the photos.
St. Bridget, one of the patron saints of Ireland.
We have no idea why the posts were decorated with hard hats.
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