From the Emerald Isle to Greener Pastures

JOURNAL ENTRY 1860 of Johnny "T" Fitzpatrick

I try to stay on but the times here in Ireland are tough. As the potato famine gets worse instead of seeing an end in site I see no end. My friends are few now and those that are left have left this land that has deserted us, those who have loved it and lived for it. Those who are left went to America. I too, have decided to leave all that I have ever known for another, another which holds hope and promise. I have lost all that held me to this land, there will always be a deep calling to this land for all my ancestors have walked these rolling hills and breathed the deep green of the Emerald Isle, but I must hold this close to my breast, tuck the mist and the leprechauns into my heart and carry it with me to America. I will be able to work maybe even the land that has turned its back on me, but in America the land is new. Earn a living, have a family and start my own memories of a land that welcomed me, not reject me. I will begin my long journey in the next few days, I have lived my life near the water yet I have very rarely been on a boat, this boat journey scares me as the idea of the new life does, but one that I will embrace.