I'm filled with LOVE....Because of YOU!

An intense feeling of deep affection is the definition of what LOVE is…..and yep I’m absolutely sure I can confirm that is what I’m feeling these days…Every step I take…Every move I make…Love follows me…Love is ahead of me…Love is all around me…and most importantly LOVE is what I feel inside my heart…..

In life, we all know how it goes…It’s not easy…Life is not easy. Bad things happen…Tough times chase us….Hard times come to our door. The people we love leave us. We feel sadness within. We watch good people fall sick. We try to help. We see good people suffer. We try to help. We see good people stressed. We try to help. We ourselves can fall ill, feel stress and we too can suffer and people try and help us too. Life is all about each other. It is not about us on our own. Often in this fast paced modern society it seems the picture that is sold to us is a life where we focus on our own wishes, wants and needs and yes somewhere in the line these are all important but most importantly we must share our moments, our lives, the good and the bad with others because that is why we are here on this earth. We are not here to be neither sad or happy on our own but to be both sad and happy with people who love and care for us. That is how this life is meant to be lived. Together is always better.

As I write this, I am sitting in the very pretty lobby/bar area of the Knock House Hotel.

Today I am on Midwest Radio with the very lovely Tommy Marron at 10am (www.midwestradio.ie) and I’m so very grateful for the support of Tommy. Such a good person who has always supported me and I am so grateful…My next stop today is to Knock Shrine where I am meeting up with Fr. Richard Gibbons, another very supportive friend of myself and Gran. Fr. Richard contributed a lovely piece of writing to the book and also is so kind to stock the book in Knock also which is very exciting. How bright must Granny be shining in Heaven as she reads today’s substack and watches all I’m up to. Me and Gran used to listen to mass from Knock at least twice a day during lockdown and here I am in Knock today…..it is beyond magical, special and very much heart moving for me. I’ve been twice to Knock since Gran passed (never before that) and twice I cried an awful lot and felt the pain of her absence very strong within me but today I sit here very close to her in a happy way…… The healing process of loss is LOVE…..and since losing Gran, as I processed my loss, felt my loss, was hurt and sad about my loss, today I feel her love shine through in me and am absolutely sure she is sending all this extra love to me through all the fabulous people that are in my life and are entering my life…… LOVE…..LOVE IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!!

Before I move any further on in my day or plans, I must look back on the week that was. I just have to share with you even briefly for now, my trip to LOVELY LIMERICK! I can’t put into words what happened while I was there but I will include photos and I think you will feel the magic from them.

A huge thank you to Facebook Family member Eimear O’Connor who was the reason the Granny Nancy Book Tour arrived to Limerick over the last week. Eimear has been part of the Facebook Family for quite sometime and she was as gorgeous in real life as I knew she would be. Me and mam had a ball in Croom Family Resource Centre as part of their Community Health Day and it was such a pleasure to meet so many wonderful people.

Eimear had lined us up two nights stay in the gorgeous Fitzgerald’s Woodland House Hotel in Adare and to honest I still think it was a dream. Me and mam had such an amazing time that we ended up staying a third night and when we went to pay our bill on Thursday, the words were ‘Mary has that all sorted for ye’. Where would you get it? The magic of it all. Three nights stay in the most amazing hotel in Ireland and not just that, we had such an incredible time. We knew all the staff by name and they knew ours. We fell in love with Mary Fitzgerald, the lady behind the whole place and to say she is one of the most inspirational lady’s I’ve met would be just right.

Me, mam and Mary spontaneously met on Monday night as I hung upside down under the most amazing Christmas tree in ireland (as below) and out of nowhere I felt a tap on my should ‘Louise, is that you? I was looking for you?’ and that was the start and end of that. The best of friendships begin and end with a tap on the shoulder and my god were me and Gran so lucky to have got to spend such special time and chat with Mary. To give the kind of feeling we now share for the Fitzgerald’s and what this hotel represents, we were sad driving away down the avenue as we left and there is no doubt we will be back as soon as we can get back. I’ll be back to share more in detail the experience I’ve had over the last week in a later substack…There is just so much to share, it needs a whole newsletter of its own to really do it justice….For now all I can say is THANK YOU FITZGERALD’S WOODLAND HOUSE HOTEL IN ADARE, THANK YOU EIMEAR O’CONNOR. THANK YOU CROOM FAMILY RESOURCE CENTRE…..AND THANK YOU LIMERCK!

This is the link to this amazing hotel: Fitzgerald's Woodlands House Hotel

This week on the book tour I’ve been again reminded of the love that is out there for us all. With LOVE all we have to do is move closer to those who already love us and in that moment remind ourselves that we all deserve to be loved. Also the magic of love is that it’s a give and take process. The more you give away I can promise you the more that will come back to you. Give it away without considering what could happen down the line. Instead just be your happy self and share your smile. So far it has brought me nothing but JOY…..JOY is such a small word but it means everything to me. As I always say life is a rollercoaster and when you are in a good moment, press pause and embrace it because it is these joyful days that help you fight the darkness when it does come. And darkness comes to all no matter who we are. But there is only one way to fight the darkness and that is the light. And the LIGHT is LOVE so keep loving. Keep reaching out. Keep looking up. Keep being YOU. Keep choosing those who choose you. Keep telling those who love you that you love them. Keep being your magic self. Keep choosing love. Keep shining the light that is within you. We all see it and we all love YOU for it!

Until Monday,

Mind yourselves substack family and mind each other,

Love and loads of it from me to you,

Lou x

Ps. Granny Nancy’s book can be purchased from my website here: Granny Nancy's Book is on sale here

With Christmas just around the corner and post delays beginning to pick up with demand, if you are thinking of buying Gran’s book for a gift, I would indeed recommend popping your order in very soon just to make sure you have it in time. All books being distributed for Ireland and the UK are personally signed by myself.

Thank you so much for all your support, Lou xx