Page 82 - The Letter By Ann Newhouse

Penny and I decided to go into Dublin city centre to do some shopping, she bought a hand knitted Aran sweater for Paul and a handmade shawl for Seki. I picked a large Guinness mirror to hang in my main room and a couple of Aran hats for Rex and myself to keep us warm on our long country walks. The image of us walking arm in arm through the woods brought a smile to my face.
With our arms laden with our purchases we stopped into Bewley’s coffee house for a much-needed fix and give us more energy to continue shopping. Stretched out on a big comfy sofa we enjoyed a big cream cake and smooth earthy coffee. Bliss, the look of pleasure on Penny’s face showed she felt it too.
‘I have never seen you look so happy and relaxed’, I commented.
‘Oh! I have you to thank for that this has been the most fab time. It’s been too long since I have felt so carefree’, she closed her eyes and smiling leaned back into the sofa.
‘I must confess’, I revealed, ‘likewise’.
‘But you are young and free, why so long since you enjoyed yourself?’ she asked cautiously.
‘For ten years I lived with my previous partner and we partied almost every night’, it felt like the right time to talk about this with her, ‘we worked hard too but when it came down to the wire he didn’t love me enough to get married or to start a family together and then he was killed’, I paused composing myself I wasn’t ready for the tears to flow yet, ‘It made me blame the partying and the life style. So, I made a vow to myself to change my life style’. ‘But now’, I continued, ‘having met someone I like, I have to rethink again, he is so young I know he’ll want to have fun and party and I don’t know if I really want to live that type of life again’.