Jacqueline's first post

I think Michael has done a smashing job designing ‘oor’ trip blog. I hope you’re all able to tune in and enjoy the entire journey as well as the many hidden details of our personal bliss and blessings. I wondered what I could possibly add to the masterful work Michael’s already done but as I put pen to paper, these are the thoughts that came tumbling forth: Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). This verse of scripture has resonated in my life’s circumstances particularly throughout this past year and is decidedly the hallmark of the love of all things Scottish that Michael and I share, that which has brought us to this miraculous adventure we’re about to embark upon.

First of all, for most of my life I believed I’d descended from 100% French stock, but lo and behold, my sister-in-law Linda Turcotte’s genealogical research some years ago, revealed the Celtic bloodline of the MacDuffs, a clan I’ve come to herald as my own! Michael’s mother Joan Small, a first generation Scots-American, whose mother immigrated to America as an indentured servant in the 1920s, has greatly influenced our love affair with Scotland. We attended our first Highland Games with Joan in Brimfield, Mass. about a dozen years ago. I’ll never forget the thrill I felt hearing the sound of the bagpipes skirling triumphantly as the massed bands poured onto the field. My feet barely skimmed the ground as we followed the bands down the thoroughfare; every fiber in me danced joyously to the beat of the drums. This experience has been repeated over the years each time Michael and I have travelled to the famed NH Highland Games. Like hungry kids in a candy shop with wide smiles fixed upon our faces, we walked on air with hearts enraptured as we devoured characteristics of this rich and spirited culture. We’ve established traditions of those September treks to the NH “Highlands” and to the Robbie Burns Nights celebrated worldwide every January; at home on Sunday evenings, we huddle by the radio to hear lively Celtic music performed on fiddles, harps, drums and pipes, while enjoying a wee dram of our favorite Islay malt.

Webster’s defines the word ‘serendipity’ as an instance of the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. I feel that this describes the surprising, unexpected delight Michael and I have found in our mutual love of Scotland: the desires of our hearts, given to two wee bairns by their loving, knowing Father.

Mise le meas, (Yours faithfully)
Jacqueline