In 1999, while traveling along the shore of a little harbor village called Mullaghmore, in County Sligo, Ireland, I came across an old white van parked beside the road. Next to the van was a shirtless man, his tripod-mounted video camera pointed at the rocky shoreline below. Shortly after I had stepped out of the car to take in the scene he walked over, waving and smiling. “It’s my favorite place!” he shouted in his thick Irish accent over the sound of crashing waves. As he drew near he leaned in and said softly, “You only need one”.
This man’s simple, proud declaration about the place he loved so dearly touched me. There I was, finally, in a land I had always wanted to see, when a chance encounter with a shirtless Irishman reminded me of my own favorite place back home, a little stretch of beach on Big Talbot Island. No matter where I go or how many special places I’m fortunate to see, I will always return to the only one I need. Thank you, wise, shirtless Irishman.
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