Bébhinn asked me to write this month’s blog on her behalf as we waited with baited breath for the arrival of her baby.

In the tradition of our country I am delighted to celebrate the safe arrival of Eoin Chandra O Donaill Zanoni. Céad míle fáilte Eonín. A hundred thousand welcomes….My deepest congratulations to the whole family.

May is a beautiful month for a birthday, and for re-birth. It will always be a bitter-sweet time.

This is Bébhinn’s blog, and not mine, and so I’ll begin.

This year in Ireland, we opted for a fundraising walk instead of a Ball. Thanks to the astonishing organisational skills of Niamh and Livy there was a terrific turnout on May 8th. The walk fell on an auspicious day-It was Caragh’s birthday, my birthday the previous day, and Peter, Bébhinn’s brother-in law turned 40 the following day, not to mention the christening of Úna and Peter’s youngest daughter, Maeve on Sunday. So the omens were good.

We met in the carpark of the GlenCormack Inn in glorious sun-shine and high spirits. Niamh had ensured that no-one collapsed en-route with rations of bananas and bottled water for everybody. We planned to walk the SugarLoaf mountain in Wicklow, one of three peaks very familiar to anyone living in the Dublin-Wicklow area. I remember thinking the first time I visited Rio how funny it was that one of the tourist highlights is a mountain with the same name, the Pão D’Açúcar: the Brazilian Sugar loaf.   There is a supermarket chain named after it in Rio and I shopped there with Bébhinn and Alastair to prepare for a last-minute St. Patrick’s day party…even in Brazil, it rained torrentially on the day interestingly. Bébhinn is a great hostess, and obviously planned things that way to ease the homesickness…(Rio de Janeiro at carnival…homesickness??)

Bébhinn’s parents, Liam and Nora, are experienced walkers. Liam led the way with Nora bringing up the rear of our expedition. Our intrepid group was comprised of friends and family. Most of us had met before- Bébhinn has a wonderful generosity when it comes to sharing her friends, and we have all been introduced to one another at some point along the years. Many of us now have small children of our own, and couldn’t have made the walk if it wasn’t for the wider network of friends and family prepared to child-mind, and prepare dinner. Thank you all.

The ball last May was a terrific example of how a community with a shared interest can achieve so much, and the walk echoed this.

What I find so interesting is that this network of people all came together to support Bébhinn, and to commemorate Alastair, and to share for a few hours the common bond that we enjoy, all arising from one couple. A couple who together touched all our lives. Two individuals, who still influence our actions and thoughts, and inspire us to be more generous in our own lives. With our time, with our money, with our affections, with our families.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather for the walk. The early part was a gentle, blossom-lined avenue. The air was damp and sweet. I was close to the back of the group, and it reminded me of a school outing. We were a very eclectic gathering, stretching away into the distance, chatting energetically. It was an almost cloudless day, with phenomenal visibility. The higher we climbed, the more beautiful the vista. There is little shelter on the walk, and it got considerably cooler and more blustery as we ascended. The secret chocolate rations came out from hiding. Our youngest members, Finn and Garbhán braved the elements with incredible good humour and stoicism in my opinion!!(Not to mention their fathers who carried them all the way up and back without complaint, when most of us were reaching for an inhaler, or a second slice of the delicious birthday cake…well done Sarah!)

We finished up at the Glen Cormack Inn for some refreshment, which was welcome. I should have known better than to open the Tayto however…  There was a small band revving up for the night, and we were treated to a short-lived impromptu céili from Liam and Nora, proof that they are in fact getting younger with every grandchild.

Personally, I was exhausted.

It was a wonderful day.

I believe it is no accident that ARCH´s work in Brazil is primarily focussed on family. It is the most effective, lasting way to influence the health and happiness of a child. Bébhinn comes from a large family, and yet my abiding memory of her house growing up, was that there was always room for more at the table.

Alastair’s dreams and ambitions were intensely family orientated too.  I believe it was his own absolute love for his family that was at the heart of his drive to help other communities. To be able to think beyond our immediate household, and to extend our care and attention to a larger family seems to me the essence of love. It is an extraordinary message. He was an extraordinary man, whose memory is invoked in many everyday ordinary ways, and in the simplest of pleasures.

As Bébhinn, Walbert, Tom and Liam Óg welcome Eoin into their lives I have a strong sense of hope for the future. I wonder if after all, whether or not it is clear to us, the universe is in fact “unfolding as it should”

In the meantime, I shall have to consider knitting blue booties, as I was convinced Eoin would be a girl.

Onwards and upwards, friends.

Much love,

Méabh