I have a tough time staying asleep at night, so I’ve decided I need to take a trip to Ireland. That sentence will make sense.

Everyone in the world seems to have playlists on their phones. They use them when they’re walking, running, working out, hanging out at the pool—well, at least my husband does. He is a music lover from hard rock to country to the stuff which has no clear classification. Our house and pool are wired for sound. I have no idea how to use this system, but it works and sounds great! We own CDs, turntables, albums and other gadgets I am not allowed to touch. Music is important to Carey. To me, it is just something in the background that I can occasionally sing to—badly.

Anyway, I woke up around 2 a.m. and couldn’t fall back asleep. Carey suggested I use the ear pods he gave me and listen to music that would help me relax. All I needed to do was put together a playlist, and I would be ready to go.

Ha. Ha. Ha. I was going to put together a playlist? After little thought and one Google search, I came up with a list of top Irish musical groups: U2, The Cranberries, The Commitments, The Chieftains, Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, The Corrs. All groups I liked, so with a little help from Carey, I had a playlist.

You should know that I really didn’t think this idea of listening to music would lull me back to sleep, but I was so wrong. It really was like I was a baby and someone was singing me a lullaby. It was the perfect combination of music. Some were so familiar that I could sing along, but others were new or brought out only a faint remembrance. Next thing I knew, it was time to wake up. And then it started to creep into my mind. I needed to go to Ireland again.

Now, I’m not accusing the Irish singers of incorporating subliminal messaging in their music, but within two weeks, I had the idea in my head, “Take me to the motherland!’ What? I am heading to Florida for the next three months and then planning a cruise to Alaska. I’ve already put the deposit down on the cruise. The trip to Alaska was important to me. It is that last state that I have yet to visit. It is a bucket list item! But I kept listening to the music when I couldn’t sleep and the noise in my head would not stop.

So, Carey and I are going to Ireland! For my birthday, Carey is giving me one of those ancestry DNA kits so I know where my people are from, and well, here I come. I sure hope they are home when I knock on their door looking for a place to stay! Sure, I will have other hotel reservations, but I am going to find my ancestors. What if they are all like me and write columns for their local papers? Or are snarky? Bossy? Regardless, it will be fun. So, my peeps, be careful of the music you listen to or you will also be taking a trip to a different county. It is a fact.