The day of Tim’s birthday back in January, our four children summoned us to the kitchen table. “It was a joint present,” they said as we were both going to be 60! Julie passed a big card to Tim. All eyes were on us. There is something very special about our children planning a gift for us. It unfolded; they were sending us to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a week!

There were four tickets for Garth Brooks included. Julie’s eyes were burning into me for reaction. Marianne and Frank Templeton, our Australian farming friends, were going to join us. I started to cry.

The eight eyes could have no idea why I was so emotional. They were reared on music with Garth Brooks one of my favourites. So there was no surprise in them sending us to a concert. The choice of Garth Brooks was poignant for me. Exactly 25 years ago, Tim had taken me to a Garth Brooks concert in Dublin in 1994. I’d miscarried our last child at 20 weeks and I’d a tough time getting over it. The children were nine, six, five and three. I needed the pick-me-up and it worked.

Cartoon by Clyde Delaney.

When people do nice things for you, it can give you a great source of strength and hope. So I was remembering my emotional self around that time. The icing on the cake was Marianne and Frank. I was hosted on their farm in 2004 when a group of IFA women travelled to Australia. We clicked and have been friends ever since.

Pittsburgh

We landed in Pittsburgh and waited for the Aussies to arrive. It had been three years since we met and none of us had aged a bit! We spent the first few days catching up and relaxing. Pittsburgh had been an industrial steel city in its day and there is plenty evidence of rusty steel buildings and bridges. It’s about twice the size of Cork. Tim found a beautiful restaurant called Altius for the night our friends arrived. It had a panoramic view of the triangle where the Allegheny river meets the Monongahela river to form the Ohio river. It took me the whole week to remember those two difficult names to the amusement of my husband!

If you closed your eyes, one could be in Croke Park

While the odd boat travelled the rivers, we tried to imagine a time when the rivers were the vehicle for the moving merchandise of the city.

The day of the concert we were parked up in a casino nearby early in the evening. Tim had his research done. We dined on barbecued buffalo wings and enjoyed the sunshine and lead up to the concert. If you closed your eyes, one could be in Croke Park. Garth arrived and delivered all his great songs. His voice is as good as ever and the concert was weirdly the same as we remembered in Dublin 25 years ago.

Niagara Falls

The day after, we struck for Buffalo to visit Niagara Falls. We were advised to go to the Canadian side for better views. As we got first sight of the falling water, the comment from Frank in the back seat was: “Is that it?” We all felt a bit underwhelmed by the falls. As we walked the park on top with its beautiful gardens and tulip beds the magnificence and extent of the falls unfolded. We took a boat down to view the falls and found them spectacular.

We travelled back through hours of deciduous, mature forest to Gettysburg where Tim wished to explore the battle fields and historical monuments of the area.

It was a tearful farewell for us girls while the men nodded and winked at each other

Alas, he only had time for the Military Museum where he found the painting called The Cyclorama that told the story of the Battle of Gettysburg hailed as the turning point of the Civil War in 1863. It was painted by Paul Philippoteaux and measures 377ft x 45ft. A further road trip brought us back to Pittsburgh for our flights home.

It was a tearful farewell for us girls while the men nodded and winked at each other. Friendship makes for magical times shared and parting creates a longing for the next reunion.

Still we had a lovely time made all the better by the competent teams we left at home both in Ireland and Australia.