A few days before St. Patrick's Day in 2003, I purchased a beautiful six-piece dessert set of fine bone china from a local shop. As the shop owner carefully packed it up, I read the bottom of one of the tea cups: "Royal Tara-fine bone china-made in Ireland."

I bought the set because it was gorgeous. But knowing it came from Ireland made it even more special to me. At the time, I'd never been to Ireland and my father, Edwin, who died in 2001, had never been to Ireland either. But he…

Last winter, a year after my husband died, I decided to take my first trip to Ireland, birthplace of my ancestors.

I don’t have many regrets in my life, but not finding a way to take my father, Edwin Concannon, to Ireland will always be at the top of my list. There were always reasons why I couldn’t do it — raising a child, financial, not enough vacation time, and then…

My husband Joe and I were blessed to enjoy 18 wonderful years together before he became ill. We shared a beautiful daughter and there was love, laughter, joy, hard work and so many plans for our future. However, like most families who have a loved one stricken with a serious…