Roisin Markham

– written 19 November-

Last week was a lot personally, volunteer wise, let alone work.

Our eldest turned another sun cycle, which we celebrated with him other the week.

As a family we went to an excellent spot for Cajun food in Dublin called Krewe, highly recommended. For his actual birthday we head West with him & his friends. Lahinch in Co. Clare is a great spot. We’ve fond memories of him at 5 sun cycles building sandcastles on the beach. This time he was hunting waves as he often is. Laughing having fun, being up and active and sharing his big bright energy. Celebrating blowing out birthday cake candles at 2am as you do! Tuesday he flew back to Oz.

As part of his birthday present we realised he’d love a Hula Girl for his jeep.

So I went looking for one, straight to eBay and found some they were affordable shipping from UK or Europe. But then I was offered some alternatives and well, this is what he got.

It arrived in super fast time and he laughed hard, looking forward to it featuring in his tiktok at some stage.

His latest share on that platform is a small present I tucked into his bags the night before he left. This video really shows Oisins joy de vie!

The day he flew out I went into town with our other two sons to hang out and spend time with them.

Felt like I’d not done that without any pressure in a while. I’d taken the day of work and prepped for my volunteer stuff that week already. So into Temple Bar to browse through second hand clothes shops stopping at 35 Vintage on Fade Street first. That place is a find. A Carhart jacket may or may not have been purchased as part of a Christmas gift.

I got to go to one of my favourite spots Magne at 11 Fownes Street – I always find some cool art, button badges and postcards there. One day I’ll decide what I want them to customs make on a speech bubble necklace for me.

We had an amazing sharing board full of Italian deliciousness over the Liffey in Sfuso.

It was pretty much decided that Eoghan our youngest was moving out that week. So that all got sorted the Tuesday and I agreed to move him Thursday after work.

Wednesday I went to work in the office, I wanted to meet up with some of our team and celebrate Diwali in the office. I volunteer on the Diversity and Inclusion team for the eBay Ireland site. The team is called Embrace. It’s a brilliant name and I love the work the team does.

One of the amazing people on the Embrace team is Amyula Lah who shares her culture so generously I asked her why Diwali is important for her and I love what she shared

Diwali ‘Festival of Lights’ means a day of happiness, pride, joy and sharing love!
We have happy and sad moments in life but Diwali conveys to us, no matter how hard life is, you always have the opportunity ahead glowing –

We light Diya’s ( lamps and candles ) all through the house, wear lovely beautiful clothes and relish all the yummy food! ‘It’s about spreading the light and love to One and All.

Such a beautiful celebration. I so appreciate working for a global company that I get to learn, lean into and appreciate other cultures. I love that my career has woven across industry, people from all over the world and I really cherish that. Being open to other cultures really adds something to my life and my own culture as an Irish woman.

There is something particularly poignant for me my understanding of the Diwali celebration, my happy and sad moments in life but Diwali conveys to us, no matter how hard life is, you always have the opportunity ahead glowing

This year has definitely been hard for me having to take time out from work to mind my mental health.

After work Wednesday I headed down home towards Gorey, stopping off at the ‘Meet your neighbours’ event run by Gorey Community Development Group in Loch Gorman. At their all hands meeting after that event I ran a facilitated session on mapping resources, people, supports, projects across the town.

I used the doughnut unrolled dimensions to create a different way of starting conversations, connections with people and thinking differently about asset mapping and place making in Gorey town.

if you live in or around Gorey do join in, the aim is to create a resource that is useful for anyone new or returning to the area.