Tugaim rudaí áirithe faoi deara nuair atá mé timpeallaithe ag mo theaghlach. Chaith mé oíche i measc daoine aosta ag breithlá 90 mo sheanathar le déanaí.
Ní rómhinic a chaithim oícheanta mar sin agus níor cheap mé go mbainfinn an oiread sin taitneamh as, mar dhuine óg.
A luaithe agus a shuigh mé le hais mo sheanathair atá i mbarr a shláinte thuig mé go raibh rud éigin speisialta faoin oiche úd. Tháinig céad cara dá chuid chuig an dinnéar le ceiliúradh a dhéanamh agus le linn na hoíche labhair mé le cuid acu. Tá aithne mhaith agam ar mo sheanathair agus tá mé an-cheanúil air ach faoi dheireadh na hoíche thuig mé nach raibh eolas agam ar a shaol sula raibh sé ina sheanathair nó fiú ina athair.
Insíodh scéalta faoi Jack agus a chairde agus an phléidhíocht a bhíodh ar siúl acu agus iad ní b’oige agus an saol a bhí acu amuigh faoin tuath.
Labhair mé le fear amháin a raibh cuimhní aige ar laethanta amuigh ar an bportach agus mo sheanmháthair, nach maireann, ag teacht ar a rothar le ceapairi agus tae do na fir.
Rith sé liom go raibh tábhacht níos mó ar am a chaitheamh le daoine agus am a dhéanamh do dhaoine ná mar atá sa lá atá inniu, agus daoine gafa ag cúrsaí airgid agus an saol atá lán le hábharachas.
Cé go bhfuil neart cainte cloiste agam i dtaobh na rudaí seo, is minic nach dtugaimid ceacht tábhachtach faoi deara go dti go bhfuil sé curtha os ár gcomhair go pearsanta.
Cuimhneoidh mé ar an oíche go deo agus tá súil agam go bhfuil go bhfuil rud éigin foghlamtha agam ó Jack Dunne agus a nócha bliain ar an saol seo. Go maire tú Jack.
Is scríbhneoir agus léachtóir le Gaeilge í Siún Ní Dhuinn in UCD
I sometimes notice things while surrounded by my family. I spent a night recently among elderly people at my grandfather’s 90th birthday party. As a young person, I don’t often spend nights like this and I never knew I could enjoy it so much.
As soon as I sat beside my grandfather, who is in the full of his health, I realised that there was something special about this particular night. A hundred of his friends came to celebrate with him and I spoke to some of them. I know my grandfather well and I’m very fond of him, but by the end of the night I realised there was so much I didn’t know about his life before he was a grandfather, or even a father.
Stories were told about Jack and his friends and the things they got up to when they were younger and their life in the country. One man told me of his memories of my grandmother, since deceased, coming to the bog on her bike with a bag of sandwiches and a flask of tea for the men who were working all day.
One thing that struck me was how important it seemed to spend time with people and make time for people, something that seems to be harder to do these days with financial issues and materialistic tendencies encroaching on our lives.
Even though I have heard much talk of this kind of thing, it often happens that we don’t understand something until it presents itself in personal terms. I will always remember the night and I hope I have learned something from Jack Dunne’s 90 years of living.
Siún Ní Dhuinn is a writer and lecturer at UCD
