[hopeful]

The rest of our Ireland adventures flew by. There are so many highlights I wish I could share, but that would take too long and you would get annoyed with me.

But, there is one experience I want to share from one of my favorite days (I know, I say that every time).

It was our last day in Cork and we had bus tickets for Galway that afternoon. So with an entire morning to explore, we made another whimsy move and bought a morning train ticket to a town called Cobh (pronounced: “cove,” not sure how that makes sense). This was the last place the Titanic picked up passengers before it sunk. We looked up pictures of colorful buildings on the sea and decided it was a must-see.

For 30 minutes we passed through beautiful towns and ports, Cobh was the last stop. We were giddy in our seats and anxious for the unknown adventures the morning had for us.

What was excitement slowly faded as we walked out of the station and found a giant wall and a small road in front of us. That was it. We stood there awkwardly, starting to feel discouragement and thinking we had made a mistake.

Thankfully, despite how hopeless the situation seemed, we decided to walk up the road. It didn’t take long before we came across a bright green building, then a red, then yellow, and all of a sudden we turn the corner to a beautiful town tucked in a hill sitting on the edge of the sea. A beautiful gray church steeple shot out from a sea of roads lined with quaint houses and shops all brightly painted as a warm welcome.

We spent the morning exploring, reading about the history, walking, taking pictures, and at one point admiring the church’s sanctuary as we waited for a storm to pass.

It was an incredible morning; we were all so thankful that we explored the town of Cobh. On the train back to Cork, I couldn’t help but feel extremely thankful that we decided to walk down the road. What if we got too discouraged and took the train back? What if we went down the road the wrong way? I started to get stressed with all the possibilities that could have happened, but didn’t.

It was a great reminder for me that sometimes things in life look disheartening. Like all is hopeless. But, there is always something great around the corner, we just need to take steps in a direction, even when we don’t see what lies ahead. When we walked towards what looked like nothing, it actually led us to the best morning in a beautiful Irish town.