So, a few weeks ago I started thinking of Ireland and of how I have always wanted to go there. The other day I checked my e-mail and a friend of mine had sent me a website on vacationing in Ireland. I wrote her back and asked if I had mentioned that I was thinking of doing exactly that, or if she had just sent me the website by coincidence. "Coincidence" she replied. Later, I was reading a magazine and turned the page to see a map of Ireland with my name leaping right out of it..yes, Shannon is a city in Ireland and that's what my mother chose my name from. Coincidence? Perhaps.

And then, I was looking for some pictures for yet another friend, and I came across this old picture of my Grandpa...ahhh, my Irish Grandpa who was so proud of our heritage. Not so odd to have a picture of him in an old photo album, but as I looked at his Clark Gable look-alike face I noticed what seemed to be the word "Dublin" near the tear in the upper right corner. Upon removing the photo from the book, and looking at the back, I realized that it was indeed taken in Dublin. Yet another coincidence? Probably.

But then, upon checking tonights TV guide, I see that my "vice", The Simpson's is a new one...and where do they go? IRELAND!! Coincidence? With The Simpsons? I think not! I think this is the sign I have been waiting for, that Shannon should go to Ireland!

~Coincidence is logical

~Johan Cruijff