Mayo Alive, March
'98.
A Dream Comes True
My grandfather, Michael J. Garvin, was born in Ballina in 1905. It is now 93 years later and I, his first grandson, will be arriving in Ballina in May of 98, from the United States. I will stumble awkwardly upon my distant cousins and inside I will imagine that if Michael never left Ireland I would have been closer to those I meet. It's hard to feel Irish pride when one grows up in the mixed cultures of NY; it's hard to understand the beauty of such people from so afar.
However, in May of 98 I shall walk upon Arbuckle Road in Ballina, touching the same ground my grandfather touched. as a boy. I remember stories of the Little People as he told them; stories of the rich beauty of Ireland when he was a boy. This was a world and two away from my own life. My grandfather spoke of my grandmother, Mae Kelly of Ballinrobe, who died many years before him. He spoke of her sweet and gentle soul. I believe my grandfather was speaking for every man who loved his Irish lady.
As a boy I would ask my mother why my grandfather left his homeland and she would reply for a better life and opportunity. I don't think he meant it in the sense of a better place. In my heart I believe he was young and saw the world before him and like all young men, he had to walk the road before him and his final destination was to be America. I can proudly that I am bringing his dream full circle. I have accomplished in my country was he has only dreamed about. I have finished what he set out to do.
Michael J. Garvin now rests in a simple grave in New York. When I arrive I will bring his soul back to a land he loved so much, I shall carry his spirit in my heart and free it into the Irish air- free it like no other soul has been freed before. So I write these words to announce that Michael J. Garvin my grandfather, and his sweet Irish lass, Mae Kelly, whom I've never known, are returning home to County Mayo once again.
By FM Ahearn
