Born and Raised

So for those of you that may not know me I'm orginally from a small village in North Cork Ireland. A very humble upbringing by 2 loving  parents who worked extremely hard for a living. I have very happy childhood memories like most kids would have from the 80s, always outside playing, always around loads of other kids and not a care in the world. We had a very happy home and I can still smell the sunday roast Mam would be making as my Dad would be dancing and singing round the house. Always a song playing in the background. I was raised to work hard, be kind, grateful and to always be thankful for what I had

The local bar was only 3 doors up from our house and owned by our Uncle and Aunt at the time so it's fair to say we spent sometime there. It was were most people from the village socialised, a bit of craic agus ceol always to be had. Yes you could barely see anyone through the thick cloud of smoke and there was kids everywhere tanked up on kitkats, tayto and red lemonade. You wouldn't be Irish and born in the 80s if you didn't have this kind of childhood experience. People ask you what you dreamt of being when you were a child and for me strange as it may seem and from as long as I can remember I've always wanted my own little authentic Irish bar. If I won the lotto tomorrow it's probably one of the first things I would buy this is how much this memory means to me

I was in general quiet a good kid, never got into much trouble, never ditched school and was a little bit of a nerd. That is until I moved (insert Cork accent) Cork city boi. When I moved away from home I might as well have moved to New York City because that's what the city (or town as they called it) felt like. In my eyes it was huge and it was strange to me that no one really knew each other. The first year I lived with my bf (mam and dad didn't know this until a few years later) and 4 other lads and soon after that I lived with a few of my good friends from were I was from, now this was when the real fun started. We lived in several sh*th%les  (I mean lovely) houses  around Cork and there was always a party to be had no matter what day of the week it was. We even had a sunbed in the front sitting room and the deep fat fryer was never off, no such thing as healthy living back in those days. Myself and 2 of those friends worked in a nightclub in the city and we would serve drinks, have a laugh, work hard and then go home and party after work. It really was a fun time that felt like it was never going to end..but sadly people grow up, move on and lose touch.

I look at my kids now and I hope they have half the memories I have from my childhood. Sometimes it worries me that times are changing too fast and people just don't connect with each other like before. People didn't have much back then but everyone seemed equal. Gone are the days when you just walk in someone's house because the door is never closed and the kettle is always on. People actually had to sit and talk to each other, not just a like or a comment on facebook like nowadays.

I always said when I was younger that I would never live in a little village again but truth is the older you get the more you want to keep in touch with your youth and your memories xx