It is 1999 and we have now been in our house in Meath for about a year and loving it.  David was now leaving for work by 7am so that he could beat the Dublin traffic and get to his office by 8.00. He always was an early bird and this worked well although it was usually 7pm or later when he got home.

Sam and I would get up at the same time as David, and after a quick breakfast would hit the beach at Bettystown, kilometres of golden sand and those spring mornings as the sun came up were stunning. I don’t seem to remember the rain. Funnily enough even on wet days we still went to the beach and just wrapped up in waterproofs.

When Sam reached his first birthday, I found a business in Drogheda which was our local town. I had been studying nutrition and…