FOurthMO of July

And today was a day just like any other... in Dublin!  I woke up and headed to work on the early side so I'd be on time for my 9:30 parent interview.  I had two more interviews lined up for today and not much to do other than writing up references for Cathy's research project, so the day was rather slow.  The interviews went really well and both of the parents that I talked to had such "grand" information to share with me about how much their children enjoyed the intervention, the positive changes they made socially and academically, the lessons they themselves learned from the parenting course, and how great of an impact the intervention overall had on their families.  Now that I've completed four interviews and heard only positive feedback from the parents in Tallaght West I'm starting to realize that the work the CSER has accomplished is worth praising.  Many of the parents spoke about the opportunities they were awarded based on their participation in the intervention, opportunities they would have never had without the resources the intervention shared with them.


Despite the fact that the interviews went well and the feedback was all positive, I wish I had more to do because my mind started racing during the slower moments to everything that I'd be missing out on today.  During the past 20 years of my life, I've spent the fourth of July with friends and family celebrating in typical ways: enjoying barbecues outside, watching fireworks, attending the Highland Park parade.  At overnight camp, I have the greatest memories of looking up at the sky to see the fireworks late at night with my cabin-mates lying on the dock beside the lake in Minnesota.  At home... I will always remember participating in the fourth of July parades in the "YEA!" Highland Park vintage car with my mom and other friends.  When I worked at the Park District as a camp counselor and helped out at the carnival a few summers ago, I loved seeing all of my campers and the younger children enjoying themselves with games, food, and activities.  I dressed up as Dorothy (not by choice!) at the celebrations after the parade, and one girl asked me to "follow the yellow brick road with her."  I felt so great knowing that I was making her smile.  And last summer, I traveled to D.C. to watch the fireworks with friends from school at the National Mall.  I don't think I'll ever top that experience, definitely the best fireworks I've ever seen and an incredible night.

I've had some amazing experiences every fourth of July in America, and I'm not saying that today won't be wonderful... it'll just be different.  I looked up "July 4th" Dublin festivities online and all I could find was one barbecue advertised:
http://www.dublinevents.com/events/festival/celebrate-the-us-independence-day-on-the-4th-of-july.php. 
Other than that, I couldn't find much of anything.  The biggest let-down was not being able to find any location with fireworks.  I expected this, but I guess it didn't hit me until today.  My title might look a bit confusing for anyone who doesn't know what FOMO stands for (fear of missing out), but hopefully now that I clarified the meaning it makes sense.  I can't help but think of what my family, friends at home, and friends at school are all doing right now and part of me wishing that I was there with them.  This is the first moment since I've been here that I've missed home and experienced a bit of culture shock.  I'm not going to let my feelings stop me from going out and creating my own fourth of July celebration with my friends from America here, but I still don't think it'll be the same.  However, I do feel really proud to be an American right now (as corny as that sounds) as the minority in a different country, and I wouldn't have been able to experience that set of emotions had I not been here.  Being in Dublin really puts things into perspective for me and brings the most positive memories to mind, making me realize how lucky I am to have incredible friends and family and reminisce about all of the amazing times I've shared with them on this day.