Marie Somers

Iwas dragged kicking and screaming at sixteen from Syracuse, NY to a tiny (600 people) village in County Mayo. I begged my parents to let me stay with friends, relatives, or anyone for my final two years in high school. I didn’t want to miss junior prom, junior trip, senior prom, graduation, etc. But alas that didn’t happen. Icompleted my final two years of school in Mayo and really felt like an outsider and couldn’t wait to finish school then get out! My plan was to work for long enough to earn enough to go back to New York. Then I met an Irishman, my Irishman. 37 years, two children and two dogs later and we’re still together here in Ireland!

Both my parents are Irish but they had lived in NY for over 20 years each. I have been back to NY many times as I still have relatives there and in the last 10 years with the help of Facebook, I’ve reconnected with school friends and I’ve been to two reunions. I’ve brought my husband and kids back to where we lived to show them around. Both of my sisters returned after college and one lived in CT for 20 years the other in NY for 10 years then both returned to Ireland. I am a dual citizen and that’s what I consider myself.