When I Am Going

When my brother died last year, I inherited a footlocker of his photos and papers which included a notebook in which Mom had written her memories of growing up in Ireland during the first quarter of the 20th Century. She lived at Kilnahone, near the village of Ballygarvan in the County Cork, where she was one of eleven children--with nearly twenty-four years between the oldest and youngest of them. She went to Ballygarvan school until she was needed at home to help run the farm. This was during the First World War, and before it was over Annie joined the rebel forces trying to wrest independence for Ireland. In the bitterness that followed the Irish civil war, she came to America to marry Pat Forde, which is how my brother and I came to be. It's a great story, and I have now published it as an e-book for Amazon's elegant Kindle reader. (Later: and now also for the Barnes & Noble Nook reader) Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
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