Mary Raftery and John McCarty, giants in a small nation. RIP

Today will be remembered for wonderful reasons but also too for shock and sadness.
How do you write a blog on such a day?
to divide into segments the great and the small, the real and the insignificant, the very large and the very humbled?
firstly after a long long protracted period i have secured my 'forever home.'
i do hope that this place shall be in a small way, large and significant and a Hubble of great proportions to which my friends and family are all very welcomed.
the day was good to me...signing for the property, having the banter with two young men as we stalked my new home trying to work out how to make good small and tiny places within the home and without.
all ideas were tossed to the wind.
we trampled the grass and observed.
the next door's extension was of a 'grand affair' nature.
the massive lumpy shed of mine as suggested to the men, would actually serve as a wonderful office pod, taking off the frontage and putting glass panel doors.
they liked that, and from a woman it was mighty!
ha, joke. sorry, no good, standing on the grass with my stick faced with two zany men who possibly, only possibly would have all the answers.
nah.
inside we had the same debate of shifting boundaries, and in the most cost effect way.
questions ensued about getting over the fact that all windows were effectively illegal from today's building regulations.  Now that will cost some to replace but i suggested a convenient lump hammer in case of fire.
its the cheaper option i felt.
sniggers and giggles all round!
one of the guys felt the back did get the sun close up to the windows, for the grass grew and not moss.
would you have thought of that?
nah.
and so the day progressed.
meeting my new Personal Assistant with a chihuahua maltese cross, all the way from belgium, and not rabid as was jabbed.
a little moony ball of fluff which my two chihuahuas took well to.  A great start.
then it was to the District Nurse to sort out Health issues and 'mess.'
a few tears shed here, but no matter.

then we have the divide in the mundane.
sadly.
shocking news yesterday of the death of Mary Raftery at the young age of 54.
my twin and i walked the beach, my twin, pale and pensive, tears dripping from the edges.
Mary Raftery was no small individual.
no small character could have changed a nation so much as this woman.
remember, here we have a Woman..making such a major difference to how we perceive abuse and also priests and clergy abusers.
No more the scuff of the Mamas of generations gone past.
no more the scuff of the Bishops and Archbishops gone past.
a small, larger than life woman with the tenacity of a politician and shaker, a mover in our society, changing society.  changing it forever.  No more will our small nation be dominated by a single church who practically gave this nation its constitutional values and creeds in entirety.
We now have shaken off the shackles of superior belief systems, to one of openness and reality.
Yes, christians sin and christians can cause harm.
Mary, may you rest in peace, gone too soon.
We all grieve at this great loss.

Toward the evening time, i learnt of another death.
This was almost unbearable as this person also moved the nation.
Facing the stigma always present in Ireland, of the pain of mental illness and distress a man marched forth and called 'enough is enough.'
We DO become psychologically and mentally challenged.
This is no different to any other bodily distress and trauma.
Our brain is on the top of our bodies, and it can kilter as much as the legs, middle and neck.
The neck does not end our body at one end.
The head does.
John started 'Mad Pride', to be proud of your person, your body and your mind.
whatever way it manifested itself.
we are after all, All precious.  Very much so.
This being another person standing up to what i want to see, unshackled reality and truth.
Our mind can waver but we are all so human and all should hold to the dignity and miracle of Life, In all its twists and turns.
I admire the people who have spoken thus.
What can i say to end a blog on such a day as this?
I can say, I have been abused by a roman catholic clergyman and i have had the experiences of being vulnerable psychologically and mentally.
but I am ok.  I am really ok, for just like all, i am human.
By the way on the final note, my legs are off kilter and sway and wobble and have to be shorn up. That apparently is Ok, being of so-called 'unsound mind' is not, let us hope that through such people as Mary Raftery and John McCarthy and their values we will see a country and a nation with wonderful ethos and practices.  We should already, be very proud to have had such people in our midst.
Thank you to both.
Mary and John, may you rest in peace.  Gone, but never forgotten.