Where do I even start?
I suppose I owe you lot an explanation for where I've been. Not that anyone's been reading this thing (or so I thought — more on that mad hit counter later), but it feels right to say it anyway.
In 2003, I was working at the bank in Ennis. Living in my mammy's house. Going to sessions at Cruise's every Friday and Saturday. The Rattlin' Bog was my world. I knew every verse, every variation, every note on the bodhrán. I was good, you know? Not to brag, but I had the touch.
Then life did what life does.
I got offered a job in Dublin. Better money. I thought it would be grand — six months, maybe a year, then back to Clare. But six months became six years. I stopped going to sessions. There's no traditional music scene in the office where I was working, and by the time I finished my day, I was too knackered to go out. I got married. Had a decent life, I suppose. Bought a house in Rathmines. But something in me just... switched off.
The Rattlin' Bog became a memory.
The divorce happened about five years ago — nothing dramatic, just a slow drift, you know? Two people growing in different directions. I came back to Clare about three years back. Mam was getting on a bit, and honestly, Dublin was killing me slowly. So I came home.
But when I came home, I didn't go back to the sessions. I told myself I would. Every Friday I'd think "tonight's the night." But I'd end up on the couch instead, watching telly, wondering when I became this person who doesn't play music anymore.
Last week I was on the bus heading into town, and I caught myself HUMMING the Rattlin' Bog. Just humming it without thinking. Didn't even realize I was doing it until the woman next to me smiled. And I thought — when did this happen? When did I forget how much this meant to me?
That's when I googled the site.
I think maybe I need to go back to Cruise's.
Slan go foill,
BogLord2002