Bhuel seo Seán and mise Caitlín and that's that for the moment. That's enough if it's not too much.
Bhuel ta se céad, he's (a centurion) one hundred and one, an é sin é Seán? Céad's a haon ? Yeah. He's a hundred and one.
And I'm nócha seacht, I'm 97.
So we are married here since1952. I suppose we're now at the age where I suppose Dean's Grange Cemetery (ah bog leat) is the next appointment.
But we'll wait until we're called in any case, you have to. (don't mind him)
(I don't agree with that)Tá cos insan uaigh agus coseile ar an bruach
I always look forward to the good. (She does) Because we are all sure of the other day so we'll forget about it.
And thank God for being as well as we are, even though we are no longer as young as we were
She has never been ill in her life (no never at all) never missed a day from anything.
Even in childbirth and so on. ( I never missed a day from school nor a day from work)
Even though she has an appetite like a bird and (yeah I don't eat much) no she eats nothing and she's as I
say I don't know how her bones are staying together but they are. I didn't lose my Kerry
I hope, the day I lose my Kerry accent I lose myself.
We met in the Gaelic League in Conradh na Gaeilge in about 1945. I started teaching in
1943 and Caitlín was working in the bank and actually I don't
know whether she fell in love with me or not but I can tell you she fell in love with
my money because my pay at that time was huge (and I was working in the bank) it was 11 pounds a month
It was what? Sure that wasn't huge...It was far from it. That's the joke. I was working in the bank and had more money than Seán when we married.
We had five teachers in the family, they are all retired now
except Máire who is in Brussels in the European School in Brussles and she's over
there for 32 years about I think and she one of her past pupils when she was
teaching here in Dublin was Mary Lou MacDonald and she taught her and the in
(I don't have to tell you who she is) the afternoon and evening as well and she taught her she had her in debating
society and so I reckon remember, so that's Máire. She's waiting now to get home but
she can't very well move until she gets permission because
of the Corona virus. The two of us are only left in the house now they are all left
the rest of the five children are in their own place but every morning
one or two of them come here and they stay for the day.
Well Covid 19 made, didn't mean an awful lot to us in this respect we
weren't going out to work we didn't have a job we didn't have to face it
every day we were in our own cozy house if you like and therefore it didn't mean
enough lot to us if we looked after ourselves if we minded our selves yeah
we'd be alright that's the way I looked at in any case
and there was no use and in starting worrying of starting starting worrying
about it and you just did your best and that was that. Oh yes when you see I
didn't understand what it was and all I do when things like that happened I
start praying because I have friends up in heaven, no seriously I mean I have
great faith thank God. Times change and people get used to what happens and when they're
not able to do much about it if they only hope to they only have to accept it and
hope for the best. I didn't intend to buy a house with a
big garden but this is fairly big sized garden my favorite flower I'd said maybe
a fuchsia because you see I come from West Kerry and the fuchsia's were there and there
are many different kinds of fuchsias it's not the best flower in the garden but I
love fuchsias I love hydrangeas I love geraniums. I could spend
a whole day in the garden at my ease and I'd be content in the evening and I'd
go to bed and have a fine sleep that now is what the garden does for me it it
makes me relax. I'd say the big secret in marriage is keep your mouth shut most of the time.
You have to make the most of it and give and take and tolerate each other because there's
none of us perfect. Sure it's like any marriage I suppose we had, we've had little yeah
ups and downs, ups and downs and sure what would what would the world be
like without ups and downs I mean if things were always in marriage if
they were for God's sake marriage would be wouldn't be worth the trouble
Our trouble is not what might be included or thought to be, the children because they are
our joy and a blessing my favorite no not my favorite thing but one of the good
things was I married a man from the Gaeltacht
My favorite thing about Caitlín well I can't say because (he daren't, I was a bad cook)
I'll tell you this, she's a walking saint.