The Homeless Man Who Returned My Lost Wallet With Every Euro Inside
I lost my wallet on a wet Thursday evening in Dublin, the kind of rain that doesn’t fall so much as hang in the air and slowly enter your bones. I had…
The Little Boy Who Saved His Pocket Money to Buy His Mum Flowers
I was eight when I decided my mother needed flowers. Not wanted them, needed them. There is a difference a child can feel before he has the words for it. We were…
She Visited the Same Nursing Home Even Though She Had No Family There
I used to work the Sunday evening shift in a nursing home near Glasnevin, the kind of place where the kettle was never cold and the television was always a little too…
The Bus Driver Who Quietly Paid for a Stranger’s Fare Every Morning
I used to get the 16 from near Dublin Airport into town for work, back when my life was held together by early alarms, instant coffee, and the hope that nobody would…
The Elderly Man Who Ate Lunch Alone Every Friday Until Someone Finally Joined Him
Every Friday at exactly ten past one, an elderly man came into the little café where I worked near Smithfield. He wore the same brown wool coat, the kind that had gone…
Our Love Story Was Never Meant to Be, Yet It Was
I met her because the rain was doing what Dublin rain does best, pretending it was only a drizzle while soaking everyone to the bone. I was outside Pearse Station with a…
She Never Knew She Saved Me
I met Aisling on a wet Thursday evening outside St Stephen’s Green, though “met” is too grand a word for what happened at first. I was standing under the trees by the…
The Choice Between Love and Family
I used to think love would arrive like it does in films, with music swelling and the whole world stepping aside. In my case, it arrived on a wet Tuesday outside the…
The Rainy Evening That Became Our Beginning
I met Clara on a wet Thursday evening outside Tara Street Station, the kind of rain that seems to fall sideways in Dublin. I was twenty-nine, carrying a broken umbrella, a gym…
The Person I Lost Before I Ever Had Them
I found out in the bathroom of a café off George’s Street, with rain tapping the window like it was trying to get my attention. I had gone in because I was…