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Kevin Lowe: Have you ever had a day where it felt like your entire life was falling apart?
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Kevin Lowe: If so, well, then you can relate to Niamh McAnally.
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Kevin Lowe: Because in the span of one day, she became jobless, homeless.
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Kevin Lowe: And the only form of transportation she had were the shoes on her feet.
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Kevin Lowe: At this point in her life, she was divorced in her mid-50s.
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Kevin Lowe: And to be honest, she didn't know what she would do. But thankfully,
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Kevin Lowe: Niamhhas a spirit like nobody I've ever met, and she realized that there was something more.
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Kevin Lowe: And so she would embark on an adventure, traveling the world for a year,
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Kevin Lowe: Working just for food and lodging.
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Kevin Lowe: Now, where her story really gets exciting was the last trip,
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Kevin Lowe: the last go-round, before settling down, getting back to that, quote, normal life.
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Kevin Lowe: She was going to help a solo sailor crew his sailboat from Florida to the Bahamas.
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Kevin Lowe: Now, what happens next? That is only a story that Niamhcan share herself.
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Kevin Lowe: All I can do is to urge you to not go anywhere.
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Kevin Lowe: As a matter of fact, I want you to be sure that you listen all the way through today's episode.
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Kevin Lowe: Even if you have to take a break, you come back a few times,
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Kevin Lowe: be sure you finish it. because there's a story at the very end of our conversation
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Kevin Lowe: that ties it all together.
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Kevin Lowe: It's a part of her story that you never knew you were missing,
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Kevin Lowe: but once you hear it, you realize you can't live without it.
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Kevin Lowe: My friend, this is a story that I hope is going to set your soul on fire.
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Kevin Lowe: It's going to have you wanting more out of life because that,
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Kevin Lowe: after all, is the whole point of sharing it with you. With that said,
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Kevin Lowe: I welcome you to what is episode 346 of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.
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Yo, are you ready to flip the script on life? Because those bad days,
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they're just doors to better days.
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And that's exactly what we do here at Grit, Grace, and Inspiration. Your host, Kevin Lowe.
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He's been flipping the script on his own life, turning over 20 years of being
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completely blind into straight-up inspiration, motivation, and encouragement just for you.
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So, kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin Lowe.
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Kevin Lowe: I am in the studio today with a woman who I have been looking forward to meeting
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Kevin Lowe: again because the first time I talked to her, she stole my heart.
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Kevin Lowe: I love her. And I'm excited to get to introduce her to you right now.
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Kevin Lowe: Niahm, welcome to the podcast.
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Niamh McAnally: Thank you so much, Kevin. Lovely to be here with you.
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Kevin Lowe: Oh, well, I am excited to dive into your story all the way back from Ireland,
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Kevin Lowe: all the way to Florida. We're going around the world today.
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Kevin Lowe: And I guess I figure, you know, we might as well start back at the beginning.
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Kevin Lowe: And specifically, I would love for you to kind of dive into a story,
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Kevin Lowe: sharing with me a bit about life growing up in Ireland and specifically growing
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Kevin Lowe: up in a family that were all actors.
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Niamh McAnally: Right. So both my parents were actors. So I kind of grew up in that theatrical background.
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Niamh McAnally: And it's kind of hardly surprising that I ended up in the business myself originally
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Niamh McAnally: in theater and eventually became a television director.
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Niamh McAnally: The best part about it that has been useful for me in my life has been the fact
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Niamh McAnally: that they were both freelance actors.
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Niamh McAnally: So they would get cast in a show for three or four weeks at a time and they
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Niamh McAnally: would never know necessarily where the next job was coming from.
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Niamh McAnally: Now, they were both very good.
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Niamh McAnally: They knew they had the talent and they knew they had, you know,
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Niamh McAnally: the demand, but they would never know for sure.
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Niamh McAnally: So as a result of that, like variety was very much part of our norm growing
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Niamh McAnally: up and you didn't know what was going to happen in two months' time or three
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Niamh McAnally: months' time, people would ask them for commitments for six months out and they'd
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Niamh McAnally: be like, well, we don't know because we don't know if we're going to be working then or not.
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Niamh McAnally: And that really helped shape my outlook on life in terms of reinventing myself all the time.
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Niamh McAnally: I've had like five careers across five different industries,
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Niamh McAnally: but it just seems normal. You just start again.
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Kevin Lowe: Yeah, that is fascinating. Now, you had siblings as well who were into acting also, correct?
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Niamh McAnally: Yeah, both my brothers were in the business as well. they were in front of the
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Niamh McAnally: TV cameras and also behind them and then into radio production and music television production.
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Niamh McAnally: So, yes, there was it was quite a family event.
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Kevin Lowe: Yeah, that's fascinating. Now, growing up, did you pretty much just know like
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Kevin Lowe: after school and stuff that you would want to get into that line of work?
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Niamh McAnally: I wasn't sure, to be perfectly honest, because I didn't.
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Niamh McAnally: My parents were both so talented. I wasn't sure if I would have enough talent
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Niamh McAnally: and I didn't want to disgrace them.
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Niamh McAnally: So Ireland at the time, it was very much a homogenous society.
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Niamh McAnally: And it wasn't a foregone conclusion that everybody would go to college.
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Niamh McAnally: And to me at the time, it seemed like it was mostly, you know,
00:05:04.188 --> 00:05:06.168
Niamh McAnally: people who wanted to be teachers and professors.
00:05:06.528 --> 00:05:12.448
Niamh McAnally: And also, I had read an essay for our leaving certificate, the equivalent of
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Niamh McAnally: like high school graduation, by Cardinal John Henry Newman, which was the idea of a university.
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Niamh McAnally: And in it, he said something that has resonated with me my entire life was,
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Niamh McAnally: it's a school of knowledge of every kind, consisting of teachers and learners from every quarter.
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Niamh McAnally: And so I thought to myself, well, I'm not going to see that diversity in Ireland.
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Niamh McAnally: Now, certainly it's a much more diverse country now.
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Niamh McAnally: But at the time, I also loved English and I loved French.
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Niamh McAnally: So I took off as a teenager to Paris, France, and went to study French language
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Niamh McAnally: and literature at an international class in the Sorbonne University.
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Niamh McAnally: And that opened my eyes to the world, if you like, because everybody was from a different country.
00:06:00.275 --> 00:06:04.815
Niamh McAnally: And also I was living in the family with a French family minding one of the children.
00:06:05.395 --> 00:06:10.875
Niamh McAnally: So I thought, hmm, there's so much to do and see in the world. and I wanted to go.
00:06:11.115 --> 00:06:16.115
Niamh McAnally: But I came back to Ireland at the end of, I think it was 18 months, not quite 18 months.
00:06:16.695 --> 00:06:20.715
Niamh McAnally: And it was time to, well, maybe I should try and support myself now and get a job.
00:06:22.935 --> 00:06:27.355
Niamh McAnally: And it was coming up to the Dublin Theatre Fest. I remember it was autumn time.
00:06:27.895 --> 00:06:32.975
Niamh McAnally: And I got a job working as the assistant stage manager on one of the shows that
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Niamh McAnally: was a couple of weeks in rehearsal and then two weeks playing in the Olympia Theatre, I remember.
00:06:37.935 --> 00:06:41.055
Niamh McAnally: And then that was like, I really like this.
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Niamh McAnally: You know, it was it really kind of helped me with my artistic talents and creativity.
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Niamh McAnally: So I kept going and I was working in theatre for a number of years and then
00:06:51.555 --> 00:06:54.935
Niamh McAnally: ended up with the Abbey Theatre, which is the National Theatre of Ireland.
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Niamh McAnally: And I trained as a trainee director, had another bit of experience over in London
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Niamh McAnally: with one of Sir Peter Hall, who was a director who took on trainee directors.
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Niamh McAnally: And then finally, I moved into the area of television and became a TV director.
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Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow. So you were the woman behind the scenes, making everything work.
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Niamh McAnally: Right. Exactly. From the beginning, I was kind of like I was testing the waters
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Niamh McAnally: in front of the scenes, if you like.
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Niamh McAnally: But then after that, it was like, no, behind the scenes was where I really felt that that was my spot.
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Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Well, you mentioned about reinvention, reinventing yourself.
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Kevin Lowe: And I'm going to assume from the little bit I know that those reinventions are
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Kevin Lowe: probably going to guide our conversation a lot today.
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Kevin Lowe: And just as kind of like a sneak preview, would you mind sharing as an overview
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Kevin Lowe: what those reinventions were that you've done?
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Niamh McAnally: Sure. So earlier in 87, I had been introduced to scuba diving.
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Niamh McAnally: And I met somebody that was also on the instructor program when I became a scuba instructor.
00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:09.259
Niamh McAnally: And we were together and it was like, oh, let's go travel the world and teach
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Niamh McAnally: scuba diving. We can go to all these wonderful places.
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Niamh McAnally: And at that stage, I was a television director and I thought,
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Niamh McAnally: oh, yeah, that sounds great. We just take off and travel.
00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:22.379
Niamh McAnally: And so that's when I got into the professional end of scuba diving instruction.
00:08:22.599 --> 00:08:26.799
Niamh McAnally: And that's what brought me originally to Belize, where I was working on a volunteer
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Niamh McAnally: project. and then ultimately from there to Key Largo, Florida and stay there a number of years.
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Niamh McAnally: Now, the relationship didn't work out. So I kind of figured like, well, what's next?
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Niamh McAnally: And down in Key Largo at the time, the biggest kind of employer I could see
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Niamh McAnally: at the time outside of Scuba was one of the hotels. It was a Sheraton hotel at the time.
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Niamh McAnally: You know, a little bit brazen. I went down there thinking, well,
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Niamh McAnally: I'm Irish and we're supposed to be renowned for hospitality.
00:08:54.079 --> 00:08:56.079
Niamh McAnally: So how hard could it be to work at a hotel?
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Niamh McAnally: It's like it's like I had this idea like somebody comes in
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Niamh McAnally: and you say oh good evening here's your key off you go you know
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Niamh McAnally: I mean with absolutely no respect
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Niamh McAnally: for all the people who have like gone to college and gone
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Niamh McAnally: to hospitality degrees and everything else like that you know but anyway I started
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Niamh McAnally: working in the hotel they very graciously gave me a job with zero experience
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Niamh McAnally: and pretty soon though they realized that I had you know managerial kind of
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Niamh McAnally: style of working so they offered me a job as the, I think it was the front office,
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Niamh McAnally: a front desk supervisor originally.
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Niamh McAnally: And anyway, from there, I did more and more and I kind of backdoored my way into it.
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Niamh McAnally: I then started doing my certificates and my diplomas and all that good stuff.
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Niamh McAnally: And I ultimately became a manager of a hotel and living over on the island of
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Niamh McAnally: Sark in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, just off the coast of France.
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Niamh McAnally: And I lived on this amazing island, which was three and a half miles long,
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Niamh McAnally: a mile and a half wide, accessible only by ferry.
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Niamh McAnally: There's no cars on the island, no paved roads and no airport.
00:10:01.741 --> 00:10:08.821
Niamh McAnally: So it was incredible. And it rises 300 feet up out of the ocean, if you like.
00:10:09.701 --> 00:10:12.721
Niamh McAnally: Yeah, it's quite a stunning, stunning location.
00:10:13.221 --> 00:10:18.561
Niamh McAnally: In fact, Enya, the singer Enya actually has an album out called Dark Sky Island.
00:10:18.621 --> 00:10:23.741
Niamh McAnally: And it's about that island, Sark, because they became the first island in the
00:10:23.741 --> 00:10:29.161
Niamh McAnally: world to get dark sky status, you know, where there's no light pollution and
00:10:29.161 --> 00:10:32.781
Niamh McAnally: you can see these amazing stars. So that's how that came about.
00:10:32.981 --> 00:10:35.081
Niamh McAnally: So that brought me into hospitality.
00:10:35.601 --> 00:10:41.141
Niamh McAnally: At the end of 2014, I had been on Sark for five years at that point,
00:10:41.141 --> 00:10:45.221
Niamh McAnally: and the owners decided they weren't going to open the hotels in the year of 2015.
00:10:46.081 --> 00:10:49.881
Niamh McAnally: So I thought, hmm, what's next? so I
00:10:49.881 --> 00:10:52.881
Niamh McAnally: was so involved and addicted to
00:10:52.881 --> 00:10:55.701
Niamh McAnally: volunteer travel every time I went on vacation I would
00:10:55.701 --> 00:10:58.801
Niamh McAnally: volunteer to try and you know live in the community
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Niamh McAnally: and I thought I know what I'm going to do I'm going to take a year out and I'm
00:11:02.681 --> 00:11:07.301
Niamh McAnally: going to travel the world as a volunteer in one direction so start out in London
00:11:07.301 --> 00:11:11.741
Niamh McAnally: and head west and keep going the whole way around the world and take 12 months
00:11:11.741 --> 00:11:17.961
Niamh McAnally: to do it that was my plan and it worked out really well I did some amazing projects like in St.
00:11:18.121 --> 00:11:23.761
Niamh McAnally: Barthes, down in New Zealand. I was in many of the islands in South Pacific,
00:11:23.961 --> 00:11:28.681
Niamh McAnally: like Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, French Polynesia, back up through Palau,
00:11:29.061 --> 00:11:33.521
Niamh McAnally: across Asia, and then eventually back to London, right? Job done.
00:11:36.481 --> 00:11:41.241
Niamh McAnally: And then I saw one more project on this website that I used to go to,
00:11:41.241 --> 00:11:43.821
Niamh McAnally: to find these volunteer projects.
00:11:44.181 --> 00:11:50.121
Niamh McAnally: And it was to help a solo sailor crew his boat from Florida to the Bahamas.
00:11:50.621 --> 00:11:53.201
Niamh McAnally: And it was only going to take a month. So I thought, perfect,
00:11:53.341 --> 00:11:54.241
Niamh McAnally: I'm going to apply for that.
00:11:54.341 --> 00:11:58.241
Niamh McAnally: And in the meantime, I'll send out my resumes and then I'll be back in time
00:11:58.241 --> 00:11:59.881
Niamh McAnally: by the time I get interviews, et cetera.
00:12:00.261 --> 00:12:05.641
Niamh McAnally: Well, I get on the boat and let me just say, it was supposed to last a month
00:12:05.641 --> 00:12:09.421
Niamh McAnally: and I lived on that boat for six years. Yes.
00:12:10.661 --> 00:12:13.341
Niamh McAnally: And then and then it turned out one of the
00:12:13.341 --> 00:12:17.761
Niamh McAnally: things is the captain captain gary was
00:12:17.761 --> 00:12:23.741
Niamh McAnally: not looking for a relationship neither was i by the way but when you live 24
00:12:23.741 --> 00:12:30.581
Niamh McAnally: 7 in a 40 foot space on the high seas and you have to rely on your fellow mariner
00:12:30.581 --> 00:12:36.561
Niamh McAnally: for your safety and there's no wi-fi no internet no self-service per se.
00:12:36.981 --> 00:12:40.541
Niamh McAnally: Guess what you do after the day is done? You sit and you talk.
00:12:40.861 --> 00:12:47.201
Niamh McAnally: And we got to know each other so profoundly, you know, through chit-chat,
00:12:47.421 --> 00:12:50.841
Niamh McAnally: but then some really deep conversations because Gary had a degree,
00:12:51.221 --> 00:12:53.321
Niamh McAnally: a master's degree in spiritual psychology.
00:12:54.080 --> 00:13:00.220
Niamh McAnally: And I had spent a year after Fiji, after my first trip to Fiji with the Tony
00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:06.120
Niamh McAnally: Robbins program, which really taught me an awful lot about why we do things
00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:09.000
Niamh McAnally: and, you know, and how you motivate yourself.
00:13:09.380 --> 00:13:15.660
Niamh McAnally: And so the two of us came at similar conversations with similar approaches,
00:13:15.660 --> 00:13:19.900
Niamh McAnally: but they were still different enough for us to, you know, have meaningful conversations.
00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:23.320
Niamh McAnally: So after that, It was like, hmm.
00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:28.460
Niamh McAnally: And then about, I think it was four years on the boat and we were down in the
00:13:28.460 --> 00:13:32.420
Niamh McAnally: Caribbean on a little island or anchored off a little island called Bequay.
00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:38.360
Niamh McAnally: And it was Thanksgiving and the sun was setting and he proposed on the deck.
00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:39.440
Kevin Lowe: Amazing.
00:13:40.060 --> 00:13:43.720
Niamh McAnally: Yeah, yeah, that was quite extraordinary. And then we were planning,
00:13:43.880 --> 00:13:46.880
Niamh McAnally: that was 2019, and then we were planning on getting married in 2020.
00:13:47.520 --> 00:13:50.780
Niamh McAnally: And we're going to have a big wedding over in Ireland. His family was going
00:13:50.780 --> 00:13:55.340
Niamh McAnally: to come over. and my family would be there. But of course, then COVID hit.
00:13:55.760 --> 00:14:00.620
Niamh McAnally: So it took another year and a half. We eventually, we ended up doing a legal
00:14:00.620 --> 00:14:02.260
Niamh McAnally: ceremony down in Antigua where we were.
00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:06.640
Niamh McAnally: And then about 18 months later, we were able to have a wedding,
00:14:06.800 --> 00:14:08.520
Niamh McAnally: but it was still quarantine time.
00:14:08.640 --> 00:14:13.120
Niamh McAnally: So we flew to Ireland and we had a wedding reception for my family and then
00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:16.900
Niamh McAnally: flew back to America and had one a week later.
00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.780
Niamh McAnally: Same outfits, everything, just hiked them up, put them on the plane and off
00:14:20.780 --> 00:14:24.580
Niamh McAnally: we went. And we did another wedding ceremony in America for his family.
00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:30.360
Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow. I love it. Well, that is quite the overview of this journey.
00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:33.340
Niamh McAnally: Just the overview. Sorry about that.
00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:41.240
Kevin Lowe: Oh, my goodness. That is insane. So I'm so excited. Let's go back a little bit.
00:14:41.560 --> 00:14:48.120
Kevin Lowe: And I'm curious about when you finally you went off and you became doing a scuba
00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:52.780
Kevin Lowe: diving. and then that kind of just opened the door to all these new adventures.
00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:59.280
Kevin Lowe: What did your family think of you leaving this industry that they all were in?
00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:02.360
Kevin Lowe: Did they think you were crazy or were they in full support?
00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:05.680
Niamh McAnally: I think everybody I know thinks I'm crazy most of the time.
00:15:09.740 --> 00:15:15.800
Niamh McAnally: I'll tell you when the crazy comments came for sure, it was when I said I was
00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:19.220
Niamh McAnally: going to go to sea with a man I'd never met before. That was like definitely
00:15:19.220 --> 00:15:20.880
Niamh McAnally: on the top of the crazy list for them.
00:15:21.060 --> 00:15:24.360
Niamh McAnally: They said to me like, you know, how do you know he's not an axe murderer?
00:15:24.860 --> 00:15:29.020
Niamh McAnally: And what I didn't know at the time, what we've since laughed about,
00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:33.260
Niamh McAnally: is that his friends were saying to him, you're taking on somebody you never met.
00:15:33.420 --> 00:15:36.120
Niamh McAnally: How do you know this woman isn't a modern day pirate?
00:15:36.380 --> 00:15:39.520
Niamh McAnally: I'm going to take your boat away from you when we're 12 miles offshore.
00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:47.840
Niamh McAnally: And you know i'll tell you what kevin the thing that all of those comments really
00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:51.080
Niamh McAnally: resonated with me and something a decision i've made in my life,
00:15:51.947 --> 00:15:56.067
Niamh McAnally: People out of the best interest, maybe they think they have your best interest
00:15:56.067 --> 00:15:59.007
Niamh McAnally: at heart and say, oh, be careful with that or you shouldn't do this or,
00:15:59.067 --> 00:16:02.127
Niamh McAnally: you know, you might get hurt there, that kind of thing.
00:16:02.627 --> 00:16:09.507
Niamh McAnally: If you allow somebody else's fears infect you, you'll get stuck.
00:16:09.927 --> 00:16:13.967
Niamh McAnally: You won't go, you'll get stunted. You won't be going and doing the things that
00:16:13.967 --> 00:16:16.647
Niamh McAnally: your heart sings and wants you to do.
00:16:16.847 --> 00:16:19.727
Niamh McAnally: Do you know what I mean? so I've I took a
00:16:19.727 --> 00:16:22.367
Niamh McAnally: while to learn that in life because you know early on we kind of
00:16:22.367 --> 00:16:25.767
Niamh McAnally: do things we should do we we ought to do for
00:16:25.767 --> 00:16:28.667
Niamh McAnally: maybe for approval maybe for people say
00:16:28.667 --> 00:16:31.567
Niamh McAnally: this is the best idea for you you know and until
00:16:31.567 --> 00:16:35.347
Niamh McAnally: such time as you step into your own persona
00:16:35.347 --> 00:16:40.567
Niamh McAnally: and listen to your intuition listen to who you really are and uncover all of
00:16:40.567 --> 00:16:45.447
Niamh McAnally: that you can allow that to stop you and And that's one of the beautiful things
00:16:45.447 --> 00:16:49.847
Niamh McAnally: that I've learned from traveling is that now I just listen to my own gut and
00:16:49.847 --> 00:16:51.647
Niamh McAnally: it really hasn't steered me wrong.
00:16:52.187 --> 00:16:58.787
Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to ask questions and we're going to dive into
00:16:58.787 --> 00:17:05.627
Kevin Lowe: this just crazy thing of going sailing with a stranger and then turned into
00:17:05.627 --> 00:17:07.847
Kevin Lowe: just this beautiful love story on the sea.
00:17:07.847 --> 00:17:13.547
Kevin Lowe: But I feel as though it's important for us to back up a little bit in your story
00:17:13.547 --> 00:17:18.787
Kevin Lowe: because you were involved in another relationship. You were actually married before.
00:17:19.727 --> 00:17:19.887
Niamh McAnally: Right.
00:17:20.127 --> 00:17:23.107
Kevin Lowe: Will you talk to me a little bit about that chapter in your story?
00:17:23.787 --> 00:17:29.527
Niamh McAnally: Sure. I was married. And one of the things the reason I ended up getting married
00:17:29.527 --> 00:17:35.207
Niamh McAnally: was because I was in my 30s and I had that baby clock ticking away in my brain.
00:17:35.207 --> 00:17:37.767
Niamh McAnally: You know, I wanted to be a mother.
00:17:37.947 --> 00:17:44.347
Niamh McAnally: I wanted to have children. I wanted to have a family and I hadn't quite met the right person for me.
00:17:44.527 --> 00:17:49.447
Niamh McAnally: And then I got into this relationship and, you know, it was all very fine,
00:17:49.447 --> 00:17:53.107
Niamh McAnally: but I kind of had a feeling it wasn't the right relationship for me.
00:17:53.307 --> 00:17:58.507
Niamh McAnally: And yet I, the wedding invitations had been sent out and I went ahead with it.
00:17:58.507 --> 00:17:59.727
Niamh McAnally: But here's the interesting thing.
00:18:00.087 --> 00:18:04.367
Niamh McAnally: I grew up in a country and at the time there was no divorce in Ireland.
00:18:04.807 --> 00:18:08.487
Niamh McAnally: In fact, it didn't come in on a limited version of it came in in 1994.
00:18:09.607 --> 00:18:13.747
Niamh McAnally: So I grew up where, you know, you got married and that was it.
00:18:13.887 --> 00:18:15.607
Niamh McAnally: And there was always an expression.
00:18:15.767 --> 00:18:18.067
Niamh McAnally: You was like, oh, you've made your bed. Now you lie on it.
00:18:18.627 --> 00:18:24.427
Niamh McAnally: And that was drilled into me subconsciously, consciously and all through this relationship.
00:18:25.598 --> 00:18:30.478
Niamh McAnally: I couldn't give myself permission to leave, even though I was married in America.
00:18:30.478 --> 00:18:32.418
Niamh McAnally: I was living in America at the time.
00:18:32.598 --> 00:18:35.618
Niamh McAnally: It would have been easy enough to go get a divorce if you needed to.
00:18:36.118 --> 00:18:41.758
Niamh McAnally: So it took an awful lot for me to say, this is not right for me.
00:18:42.178 --> 00:18:46.678
Niamh McAnally: I was sublimating who I was as a human being in order to make it work.
00:18:46.818 --> 00:18:49.738
Niamh McAnally: We were just not the right two people being together.
00:18:50.358 --> 00:18:55.818
Niamh McAnally: And I went to various different counseling sessions. and one woman,
00:18:56.058 --> 00:19:00.458
Niamh McAnally: a lady called Dana Vince, I know she won't mind me sharing her name of Healing
00:19:00.458 --> 00:19:02.718
Niamh McAnally: Hearts Counseling. She was in Florida at the time.
00:19:02.818 --> 00:19:06.418
Niamh McAnally: She's actually up in Tennessee now and she's a wonderful counselor.
00:19:06.978 --> 00:19:12.078
Niamh McAnally: But she listened to me for about two or three sessions. And one day she said,
00:19:12.158 --> 00:19:16.498
Niamh McAnally: I'm not telling you which is the right direction for you to go in here.
00:19:16.958 --> 00:19:22.618
Niamh McAnally: But if this is your decision. And if you do decide this is not the right marriage
00:19:22.618 --> 00:19:27.578
Niamh McAnally: for you, why wait one more day to be happy?
00:19:28.718 --> 00:19:38.418
Niamh McAnally: And somehow that just one question really penetrated all my sort of self-imposed jail, if you like.
00:19:38.878 --> 00:19:43.138
Niamh McAnally: And I really heard her and I thought, yes, I know this isn't right.
00:19:43.238 --> 00:19:46.938
Niamh McAnally: In fact, I knew like very early on in the marriage, it wasn't the right marriage for me.
00:19:47.158 --> 00:19:51.038
Niamh McAnally: And, but I date with that kind of cultural traditions, you know,
00:19:51.118 --> 00:19:53.418
Niamh McAnally: and internal chatter going on.
00:19:53.858 --> 00:19:57.318
Niamh McAnally: And once I got to that place, I went, yes, it's it's OK.
00:19:57.678 --> 00:20:01.258
Niamh McAnally: And, you know, why wait one more day to be happy? This is not good for you.
00:20:01.438 --> 00:20:04.978
Niamh McAnally: And ultimately, it's not going to be good for the other person if you're not
00:20:04.978 --> 00:20:06.538
Niamh McAnally: being the best version of yourself.
00:20:07.318 --> 00:20:12.598
Niamh McAnally: So and that's that's made the decision for me that I had to leave that marriage.
00:20:12.938 --> 00:20:14.978
Kevin Lowe: How long were you in that relationship?
00:20:15.298 --> 00:20:17.438
Niamh McAnally: I was married for, what, eight and a half years.
00:20:17.958 --> 00:20:18.338
Kevin Lowe: Wow.
00:20:18.678 --> 00:20:19.798
Niamh McAnally: Yeah, I'm a slow learner.
00:20:23.738 --> 00:20:29.758
Kevin Lowe: You know what? I think the truth is, is that when we're stuck in a situation
00:20:29.758 --> 00:20:34.378
Kevin Lowe: like that and you don't know what else to do, you just do it. You're just there.
00:20:34.758 --> 00:20:39.678
Kevin Lowe: And before you know it, it's not until you get so far down the road that you
00:20:39.678 --> 00:20:44.038
Kevin Lowe: look back and you think, my gosh, what am I doing? I've just wasted all this time.
00:20:44.438 --> 00:20:46.778
Niamh McAnally: Yeah. And, you know, people have asked me that, like, you know,
00:20:46.818 --> 00:20:48.678
Niamh McAnally: if you go back in your life, what would you do differently?
00:20:49.498 --> 00:20:54.458
Niamh McAnally: But you know what? That experience for me is part of my DNA now.
00:20:54.638 --> 00:20:58.398
Niamh McAnally: It's part of who I have become, the lessons I learned during that experience.
00:20:58.518 --> 00:21:00.658
Niamh McAnally: So I wouldn't change it for the world. You know what I mean?
00:21:00.838 --> 00:21:06.438
Niamh McAnally: It's like that was presented to me in such a way that it's part of who I am.
00:21:06.438 --> 00:21:12.698
Niamh McAnally: And it also knowing what I knew then, once that moment came when I was there
00:21:12.698 --> 00:21:16.558
Niamh McAnally: so long, if you like this, I started out in my 30s and when I was in that relationship
00:21:16.558 --> 00:21:20.898
Niamh McAnally: so long, by the end of it, at that stage, it was too late for babies anyway.
00:21:21.817 --> 00:21:26.977
Niamh McAnally: And when I got to that place and I realized I'm not going to be a mother and
00:21:26.977 --> 00:21:32.077
Niamh McAnally: I don't have a partner either, and I'm certainly not going to start trying to do this by myself.
00:21:32.557 --> 00:21:36.197
Niamh McAnally: Once I got to that, I was, you know, I was upset naturally enough.
00:21:36.357 --> 00:21:39.797
Niamh McAnally: It was something I wanted in my life, but now I didn't have the opportunity.
00:21:40.817 --> 00:21:44.757
Niamh McAnally: I said, I can either stay here boohooing about this for a while,
00:21:44.757 --> 00:21:48.037
Niamh McAnally: or I can try and look at it from a different aspect.
00:21:48.037 --> 00:21:52.617
Niamh McAnally: And what I did was I said, okay, if I can't have children,
00:21:53.117 --> 00:22:00.317
Niamh McAnally: what is it I can do that mothers and family, you know, parents that have children
00:22:00.317 --> 00:22:06.457
Niamh McAnally: and they're raising them and all those responsibilities, what is it I can do that they cannot do?
00:22:06.457 --> 00:22:09.797
Niamh McAnally: And that's when the answer of long-term travel
00:22:09.797 --> 00:22:12.637
Niamh McAnally: came to me because i'd always wanted to travel so i i
00:22:12.637 --> 00:22:15.357
Niamh McAnally: mean i could take off i was independent i was just
00:22:15.357 --> 00:22:19.577
Niamh McAnally: me you know i didn't have the responsibility of raising family at that point
00:22:19.577 --> 00:22:23.997
Niamh McAnally: so i thought that's what i had to do and from then on every time i came across
00:22:23.997 --> 00:22:29.057
Niamh McAnally: a situation that on the surface didn't look good i would say okay well what's
00:22:29.057 --> 00:22:34.917
Niamh McAnally: the gift in this and if i couldn't find a gift i would say okay well what's the lesson hmm.
00:22:34.917 --> 00:22:36.977
Kevin Lowe: That is amazing
00:22:36.977 --> 00:22:40.357
Niamh McAnally: Things go wrong in our lives and we're all tested
00:22:40.357 --> 00:22:43.277
Niamh McAnally: in various different ways and some can
00:22:43.277 --> 00:22:47.017
Niamh McAnally: be minor some can be major and the
00:22:47.017 --> 00:22:49.957
Niamh McAnally: only way i i have found to get through those times
00:22:49.957 --> 00:22:54.377
Niamh McAnally: is to try and flip it on its head and look for something look for some kind
00:22:54.377 --> 00:22:58.077
Niamh McAnally: of good in it what is the gift there's a gift here for me somewhere and i mean
00:22:58.077 --> 00:23:01.437
Niamh McAnally: it could be as simple as missing your airplane you know are you going to meet
00:23:01.437 --> 00:23:05.397
Niamh McAnally: somebody else sitting in the waiting room or in the lounge area that you wouldn't
00:23:05.397 --> 00:23:07.477
Niamh McAnally: have met otherwise, you know, those kind of things.
00:23:07.857 --> 00:23:11.097
Niamh McAnally: And if I can't find a gift, I've got to find a lesson.
00:23:11.517 --> 00:23:15.837
Niamh McAnally: You know, there's got to be some reason this is happening for me and not to me.
00:23:17.317 --> 00:23:23.657
Kevin Lowe: I hope anyone and everyone listening to this just took note of that because I mean,
00:23:23.857 --> 00:23:28.757
Kevin Lowe: that right there is, I think, reason enough for a lot of people who click play
00:23:28.757 --> 00:23:32.377
Kevin Lowe: on this episode is they need to hear what you just said. That's powerful.
00:23:32.877 --> 00:23:36.217
Niamh McAnally: Great. Well, that's good. I mean, and that's the other reason I wrote a memoir
00:23:36.217 --> 00:23:40.557
Niamh McAnally: was to try and use my story not to write a book about, oh, me, me, me.
00:23:41.262 --> 00:23:46.462
Niamh McAnally: But to use my story and if any of the stuff that I've been through on that journey
00:23:46.462 --> 00:23:49.162
Niamh McAnally: resonates and is helpful for somebody else.
00:23:49.302 --> 00:23:51.822
Niamh McAnally: And I mean, that's why I went quite deep and quite personal,
00:23:52.142 --> 00:23:56.302
Niamh McAnally: you know, quite vulnerable, if you like, was to try and share that story if
00:23:56.302 --> 00:23:57.702
Niamh McAnally: it was helpful for somebody else.
00:23:58.222 --> 00:24:05.462
Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. So if I understand correctly, it would be then that you embark
00:24:05.462 --> 00:24:07.102
Kevin Lowe: on the year of traveling.
00:24:07.462 --> 00:24:11.862
Niamh McAnally: Yeah, it was a little time later. I kind of rattled around for about two years
00:24:11.862 --> 00:24:14.722
Niamh McAnally: in America trying to find out where my niche was.
00:24:15.262 --> 00:24:19.682
Niamh McAnally: And I just couldn't settle. You know what I mean? I tried living in various
00:24:19.682 --> 00:24:23.582
Niamh McAnally: places. I had been in CaliforNiahm. I'd been back in Florida. I'd been in Texas.
00:24:23.582 --> 00:24:27.562
Niamh McAnally: I was running around the country trying to find my feet, if you like.
00:24:28.102 --> 00:24:34.522
Niamh McAnally: And I ended up down in Fiji on a volunteer program. I was down there for about four months, maybe.
00:24:35.262 --> 00:24:41.322
Niamh McAnally: And I got called back to Los Angeles to help somebody and help them drive.
00:24:41.502 --> 00:24:44.782
Niamh McAnally: They'd been in an accident and was trying to help drive them to and from work.
00:24:44.842 --> 00:24:50.042
Niamh McAnally: And I was on the road in LA where driving is a challenge.
00:24:50.602 --> 00:24:54.602
Niamh McAnally: And, you know, the traffic was crazy. And I, one day I was in the car and I
00:24:54.602 --> 00:24:57.082
Niamh McAnally: said, Oh, get me on an Island without cars.
00:24:59.222 --> 00:25:01.942
Niamh McAnally: And I went back home and you know
00:25:01.942 --> 00:25:04.622
Niamh McAnally: what I did the the absolutely normal only thing
00:25:04.622 --> 00:25:12.442
Niamh McAnally: you could think of doing was I I googled islands without cars and believe it
00:25:12.442 --> 00:25:16.622
Niamh McAnally: or not oh Google said I'll help you out there here's three islands that don't
00:25:16.622 --> 00:25:21.022
Niamh McAnally: have cars or don't have any roads per se and there was three of them there was
00:25:21.022 --> 00:25:24.482
Niamh McAnally: one in Greece called Hydra or Hydra is probably called
00:25:24.902 --> 00:25:27.582
Niamh McAnally: And there was two in the English Channel Islands.
00:25:27.682 --> 00:25:29.762
Niamh McAnally: And that's how I ended up finding Sark.
00:25:30.242 --> 00:25:35.642
Niamh McAnally: So that's when I thought, OK, time to pack up in America and head back across the Atlantic.
00:25:35.922 --> 00:25:39.162
Niamh McAnally: And my mother was still alive at the time and I wanted to be a little bit closer.
00:25:39.842 --> 00:25:42.982
Niamh McAnally: So I moved to Sark. Now, the irony of that is.
00:25:44.080 --> 00:25:47.480
Niamh McAnally: On Sark, you have to get a ferry to Guernsey. From Guernsey,
00:25:47.500 --> 00:25:51.140
Niamh McAnally: you have to fly to Southampton or London. Then you got another plane to get to Dublin.
00:25:51.780 --> 00:25:55.600
Niamh McAnally: I, when I was in Florida, could have jumped on a plane in Orlando and been in
00:25:55.600 --> 00:25:57.700
Niamh McAnally: Dublin in eight hours much faster, you know?
00:25:58.180 --> 00:26:01.420
Niamh McAnally: But that's why I was living there. I was living there for about five years.
00:26:01.560 --> 00:26:05.480
Niamh McAnally: And it was then I ended up doing this world travel after those hotels closed.
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:12.000
Kevin Lowe: Okay. Wow. I love how all these pieces. So, I mean, it's rough.
00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:15.420
Kevin Lowe: It's rough when you look at it from the big picture, but when you look at it
00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:18.820
Kevin Lowe: kind of from today, it all kind of keeps piecing itself together.
00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.160
Kevin Lowe: One step leading to another.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:29.280
Niamh McAnally: Exactly. Exactly. And all those different professions that I did, they all end all along.
00:26:29.540 --> 00:26:34.860
Niamh McAnally: I have been a writer, but I haven't started being a professional writer until
00:26:34.860 --> 00:26:38.180
Niamh McAnally: 2016, until I got on that sailboat with Gary.
00:26:38.180 --> 00:26:42.680
Niamh McAnally: Because I showed him one of my short stories from back in the day and he looked
00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:46.980
Niamh McAnally: at me because oh Niahmmh you've got to do this full time so I went yeah really
00:26:46.980 --> 00:26:50.880
Niamh McAnally: and on the boat yes I had a little bit of time but most of the time it was like
00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:53.300
Niamh McAnally: galley slave deck duties you know hoist this,
00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.940
Niamh McAnally: hang on to that get under the boat start scraping the
00:26:56.940 --> 00:26:59.840
Niamh McAnally: barnacles off so it was a it's a busy busy time
00:26:59.840 --> 00:27:02.700
Niamh McAnally: but anyway I started writing full time then on the
00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:07.240
Niamh McAnally: boat and I started writing my memoir following sunshine and the
00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:10.140
Niamh McAnally: interesting thing all these careers all this
00:27:10.140 --> 00:27:12.940
Niamh McAnally: experience and everybody has it in the same way all
00:27:12.940 --> 00:27:15.820
Niamh McAnally: your life experience all sum up into who you
00:27:15.820 --> 00:27:20.820
Niamh McAnally: are today and and also having worked in five different industries i've got a
00:27:20.820 --> 00:27:24.320
Niamh McAnally: lot of things to draw for so so if i start writing novels now instead of true
00:27:24.320 --> 00:27:29.560
Niamh McAnally: stories you know i'll have a ton of stuff i have a in fact a friend of mine
00:27:29.560 --> 00:27:33.040
Niamh McAnally: gave me a mug that says be careful or you'll end up in my book.
00:27:35.300 --> 00:27:42.140
Kevin Lowe: That is great wow well i'm curious to know before we continue
00:27:42.964 --> 00:27:49.384
Kevin Lowe: I want to hear the full story about how you came to meet Gary on this boat.
00:27:49.844 --> 00:27:51.844
Kevin Lowe: Tell me the story of how this whole thing came about.
00:27:52.164 --> 00:27:56.604
Niamh McAnally: Well, it was at the end of the year volunteer traveling.
00:27:56.904 --> 00:28:00.624
Niamh McAnally: He was looking for a volunteer because he was a solo saver.
00:28:00.784 --> 00:28:06.244
Niamh McAnally: He had come out of a long-term marriage and a long-term land-based career. He was an entrepreneur.
00:28:07.364 --> 00:28:10.544
Niamh McAnally: And he actually, believe it or not, in terms of counseling,
00:28:10.804 --> 00:28:13.924
Niamh McAnally: he had gone to talk to a counselor as well and at the time
00:28:13.924 --> 00:28:16.764
Niamh McAnally: apparently they said to him oh you know
00:28:16.764 --> 00:28:19.844
Niamh McAnally: 80 is not the end of the world and it's not necessarily the
00:28:19.844 --> 00:28:22.564
Niamh McAnally: end of your life but you know whatever age he was at
00:28:22.564 --> 00:28:25.684
Niamh McAnally: that time was in his 60s he said um you know how
00:28:25.684 --> 00:28:30.984
Niamh McAnally: would you want to spend the next 10 to 20 years of your life and he said i there's
00:28:30.984 --> 00:28:35.564
Niamh McAnally: things i want to go and do etc so he bought a boat learned how to sail although
00:28:35.564 --> 00:28:39.804
Niamh McAnally: in fairness he learned how to sail first and then bought the boat but but again
00:28:39.804 --> 00:28:43.124
Niamh McAnally: somebody who was embracing something later in life and saying,
00:28:43.304 --> 00:28:46.864
Niamh McAnally: you know, I can learn it's not over just because I'm in my sixties. It's not all over.
00:28:47.544 --> 00:28:52.064
Niamh McAnally: And he spent about six months fixing the boat up and getting it ready.
00:28:52.204 --> 00:28:57.504
Niamh McAnally: And he was in Florida and he needs some crew and he advertised and I saw it
00:28:57.504 --> 00:29:01.384
Niamh McAnally: and I went, Oh, I've always all along. I always wanted to work at sea.
00:29:01.624 --> 00:29:04.484
Niamh McAnally: And funnily enough, here's is a funny story for you.
00:29:05.284 --> 00:29:12.684
Niamh McAnally: Once upon a time, I applied for a job on a cruise line that did the rivers in America.
00:29:13.004 --> 00:29:17.084
Niamh McAnally: And I got to second interview and yes, all my experience in hotels,
00:29:17.304 --> 00:29:21.564
Niamh McAnally: all my experience on boats, you know, working in scuba diving and working on
00:29:21.564 --> 00:29:23.224
Niamh McAnally: the boats, everything was going great.
00:29:23.404 --> 00:29:27.604
Niamh McAnally: And then they said to me, right, the last thing we need from you is your transcripts
00:29:27.604 --> 00:29:30.644
Niamh McAnally: from your bachelor's degree. And I'm like,
00:29:31.253 --> 00:29:35.273
Niamh McAnally: OK, I want to say, but I went to the University of Life.
00:29:35.433 --> 00:29:39.073
Niamh McAnally: You know what I mean? I don't have that one piece of paper. I have tons of certificates
00:29:39.073 --> 00:29:41.233
Niamh McAnally: and diplomas in all sorts of industries,
00:29:41.513 --> 00:29:45.673
Niamh McAnally: including one I forgot to tell you about, which is for 10 years,
00:29:45.813 --> 00:29:50.353
Niamh McAnally: I was a retirement financial advisor and insurance agent for life,
00:29:50.373 --> 00:29:52.713
Niamh McAnally: health and all that good stuff, long term care.
00:29:53.333 --> 00:29:57.533
Niamh McAnally: And I mean, that was state exams. I had all these pieces of paper that were
00:29:57.533 --> 00:30:00.693
Niamh McAnally: exams, but they weren't all tied up in a bow in a bachelor's degree.
00:30:00.873 --> 00:30:02.953
Niamh McAnally: And they said, well, I'm sorry, we can't hire you.
00:30:03.253 --> 00:30:09.553
Niamh McAnally: And I went, OK. And they would sooner hire a 21 or 22 year old with zero life
00:30:09.553 --> 00:30:12.093
Niamh McAnally: experience, but had that piece of paper.
00:30:13.213 --> 00:30:15.833
Niamh McAnally: And from that, I was like, oh, I always want to work a seat.
00:30:15.933 --> 00:30:16.893
Niamh McAnally: This is not going to work out.
00:30:17.013 --> 00:30:20.793
Niamh McAnally: And so then when that volunteer job came up with Gary, I went,
00:30:21.073 --> 00:30:23.873
Niamh McAnally: oh, here's my chance. You know, I could do this for a month and just live on
00:30:23.873 --> 00:30:26.813
Niamh McAnally: the ocean and see what it's like. So that's how that happened.
00:30:27.333 --> 00:30:32.973
Kevin Lowe: Okay. Interesting. I am so glad that they turned you down on that river cruise.
00:30:34.433 --> 00:30:39.573
Niamh McAnally: You know, it's really funny. You should say that only about a week ago we were talking.
00:30:39.893 --> 00:30:45.873
Niamh McAnally: I don't know if you've heard of the movie Sliding Doors, where they set up this
00:30:45.873 --> 00:30:50.373
Niamh McAnally: premise where this person was actually going down a tube, you know,
00:30:50.433 --> 00:30:53.813
Niamh McAnally: underground to get on a tube or a metro or something like that.
00:30:53.933 --> 00:30:58.373
Niamh McAnally: And somebody bumps into them on the way down the stairs and they missed that train.
00:30:59.053 --> 00:31:04.093
Niamh McAnally: And the story unfolds in two versions. One is their life as it would have happened
00:31:04.093 --> 00:31:05.293
Niamh McAnally: had they got on the train.
00:31:05.453 --> 00:31:09.273
Niamh McAnally: And the other was the life that happened because they didn't get on the train.
00:31:09.793 --> 00:31:14.713
Niamh McAnally: Anyway, the movie is called Sliding Doors. And I was talking to Gary recently about sliding doors.
00:31:14.733 --> 00:31:18.293
Niamh McAnally: And I said to him, You know, if I had to have the bachelor's degree,
00:31:18.533 --> 00:31:22.393
Niamh McAnally: I would have been working on that cruise line and we would never have met.
00:31:23.007 --> 00:31:27.667
Niamh McAnally: And then we started talking, well, would we or would we have met in a different way?
00:31:28.047 --> 00:31:31.827
Niamh McAnally: And the really funny thing, remember, I was telling you I was in Los Angeles
00:31:31.827 --> 00:31:37.047
Niamh McAnally: and I was driving somebody around and I was actually staying in Marina del Rey,
00:31:37.207 --> 00:31:40.127
Niamh McAnally: which is the harbor out there on in Los Angeles.
00:31:40.607 --> 00:31:45.147
Niamh McAnally: At the same time that Gary was looking for a boat, but we never met.
00:31:48.367 --> 00:31:54.307
Niamh McAnally: So amazing. Isn't it? And the whole thing about that is we weren't meant to meet at that point.
00:31:54.447 --> 00:31:58.767
Niamh McAnally: And people have said to me, because we have such an incredible relationship,
00:31:58.767 --> 00:32:02.627
Niamh McAnally: and then they joke and laugh, oh, you little newlyweds, you make us sick.
00:32:02.807 --> 00:32:07.507
Niamh McAnally: But the funny thing about it is, is neither of us were ready to meet the other
00:32:07.507 --> 00:32:09.507
Niamh McAnally: person at that time in our lives.
00:32:09.507 --> 00:32:13.827
Niamh McAnally: We both had our own journeys and we had our own baggage to work out.
00:32:14.127 --> 00:32:18.667
Niamh McAnally: And it wasn't until we were both ready. And I think that's what's making this
00:32:18.667 --> 00:32:21.367
Niamh McAnally: particular relationship work really, really well.
00:32:21.707 --> 00:32:24.547
Niamh McAnally: We've come into it as whole human beings.
00:32:25.067 --> 00:32:28.907
Niamh McAnally: And there's three of us now. There's a me, there's a you, and there's an us.
00:32:29.267 --> 00:32:33.407
Niamh McAnally: Rather than you hear that expression, oh, my better half or the other half of
00:32:33.407 --> 00:32:34.767
Niamh McAnally: me, all that kind of stuff.
00:32:34.907 --> 00:32:41.187
Niamh McAnally: But you need to be your own individual person and not bring too much suitcases
00:32:41.187 --> 00:32:42.407
Niamh McAnally: with you into the relationship.
00:32:42.407 --> 00:32:51.347
Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm curious what happened after that month sailing trip with Gary.
00:32:53.007 --> 00:32:57.807
Niamh McAnally: Well, I stayed on for about four months.
00:32:58.147 --> 00:33:03.267
Niamh McAnally: And because the reason I didn't go back to work immediately was because I was
00:33:03.267 --> 00:33:09.207
Niamh McAnally: heading to Ireland for a family reunion that summer. And as time was going on.
00:33:09.467 --> 00:33:13.027
Niamh McAnally: I was not, I didn't get a job for, you know, it was, it was pretty difficult
00:33:13.027 --> 00:33:15.447
Niamh McAnally: trying to do interviews while I was on the vote originally.
00:33:15.827 --> 00:33:20.367
Niamh McAnally: And I wasn't getting hired or nothing was coming through. So I sort of said, I'd stay on.
00:33:20.847 --> 00:33:24.367
Niamh McAnally: And interesting, back to the people, and it wasn't family, but it was friends
00:33:24.367 --> 00:33:27.147
Niamh McAnally: were saying to me, you need to come back to America. You need to settle down.
00:33:27.227 --> 00:33:28.507
Niamh McAnally: You need to get a job. You need to do this.
00:33:28.807 --> 00:33:32.287
Niamh McAnally: And I started to think about it. I said, well, what would I do if I went back
00:33:32.287 --> 00:33:35.847
Niamh McAnally: and earned a ton of money? What would I do with my life eventually when it's time to retire.
00:33:36.107 --> 00:33:38.767
Niamh McAnally: I know I'd buy a sailboat and go to sea.
00:33:41.107 --> 00:33:45.427
Niamh McAnally: And then I thought, I'm already here. Why would I give it up right now? Right.
00:33:45.747 --> 00:33:49.727
Niamh McAnally: So we ended up staying on the boat together for four months.
00:33:49.727 --> 00:33:52.967
Niamh McAnally: And then he, we brought the boat back to him. I went all the way down to the
00:33:52.967 --> 00:33:55.147
Niamh McAnally: bottom of the Bahamas and came back up to America.
00:33:55.847 --> 00:33:59.567
Niamh McAnally: And he and I said goodbye to each other.
00:33:59.927 --> 00:34:04.187
Niamh McAnally: He was like, you know, I'm not interested in having a long-term relationship.
00:34:04.367 --> 00:34:08.127
Niamh McAnally: I've been in a long-term marriage. I just, you know, I need some space and time
00:34:08.127 --> 00:34:10.127
Niamh McAnally: and I'm not ready to commit to relationship.
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:16.920
Niamh McAnally: And I totally got that, even though I knew he was such a special human being.
00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:21.760
Niamh McAnally: But for the first time in my life, I was able to let somebody go out of my life
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:23.640
Niamh McAnally: with absolutely no qualms.
00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:28.180
Niamh McAnally: I was sad, but I wasn't clinging, if you know what I mean. Yes.
00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:32.700
Niamh McAnally: And I just said, you know what, Niahmmh, there but for the grace of God,
00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:36.060
Niamh McAnally: there goes one of the best people out of your life. However,
00:34:36.620 --> 00:34:41.360
Niamh McAnally: you're a better human being as a result of meeting him and being with him for four months.
00:34:42.420 --> 00:34:47.240
Niamh McAnally: And you know what? Once I went through that process, it wasn't 10 minutes later
00:34:47.240 --> 00:34:51.860
Niamh McAnally: and the phone rings and it's Gary calling me from Los Angeles.
00:34:52.180 --> 00:34:56.640
Niamh McAnally: Now, the hilarious part is I was still living on his boat in the marina.
00:34:56.800 --> 00:35:03.540
Niamh McAnally: I was driving his car, you know, because he said, oh, well, if you're not getting
00:35:03.540 --> 00:35:04.520
Niamh McAnally: a job between now and then,
00:35:04.700 --> 00:35:07.520
Niamh McAnally: you know, the boat's going to be in the marina you might as well stay on it that's fine
00:35:07.520 --> 00:35:10.320
Niamh McAnally: and i said oh i can still volunteer so i was working like five
00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:13.180
Niamh McAnally: hours in the morning you know polishing the stainless steel doing all
00:35:13.180 --> 00:35:16.140
Niamh McAnally: that good stuff and then writing in the afternoons and so
00:35:16.140 --> 00:35:19.060
Niamh McAnally: he calls me up and he said he first of all said what year did your father
00:35:19.060 --> 00:35:22.400
Niamh McAnally: die and i went that's a funny kind of question and
00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:26.420
Niamh McAnally: i said 1989 why and he says oh well i'm sitting here with some friends and one
00:35:26.420 --> 00:35:29.540
Niamh McAnally: of them is an actress and she thinks she worked with your dad and i'm thinking
00:35:29.540 --> 00:35:36.620
Niamh McAnally: hmm here's a guy who is not into relationships happens to be back with his friends
00:35:36.620 --> 00:35:39.180
Niamh McAnally: in califorNiamhtalking about who.
00:35:41.860 --> 00:35:44.600
Niamh McAnally: And i in my mind i didn't say to him i in my mind i
00:35:44.600 --> 00:35:47.860
Niamh McAnally: went you are so busted you know so so
00:35:47.860 --> 00:35:51.220
Niamh McAnally: anyway long story short he decided to come
00:35:51.220 --> 00:35:53.960
Niamh McAnally: back to take his boat out and he says i'm coming back here to
00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:56.980
Niamh McAnally: take the boat and i said okay no problem i thought i'll find another volunteer project
00:35:56.980 --> 00:36:00.120
Niamh McAnally: for the length of time before i go to ireland he
00:36:00.120 --> 00:36:03.020
Niamh McAnally: said well i'm actually taking it up the east coast of america do you
00:36:03.020 --> 00:36:05.940
Niamh McAnally: want to come sail with me and i went okay sure what
00:36:05.940 --> 00:36:08.600
Niamh McAnally: why not right and he says up to new
00:36:08.600 --> 00:36:12.260
Niamh McAnally: jersey and i said what's in new jersey and he said newark and there's a non-stop
00:36:12.260 --> 00:36:16.940
Niamh McAnally: flight to dublin ireland and i went uh-huh because i had previously invited
00:36:16.940 --> 00:36:22.240
Niamh McAnally: him to come to ireland but in conversation since i learned he was like i'd love
00:36:22.240 --> 00:36:24.440
Niamh McAnally: to go to ireland but i can't go to ireland because all our family's going to
00:36:24.440 --> 00:36:27.040
Niamh McAnally: be there and there's some of our friends are going to be there what would say about me? Oh my God.
00:36:27.980 --> 00:36:32.520
Niamh McAnally: So anyway, he did end up coming back.
00:36:32.900 --> 00:36:36.160
Niamh McAnally: But the funny thing is when he came back and we started sailing,
00:36:36.360 --> 00:36:40.220
Niamh McAnally: I thought initially that meant that he was like, okay, ready,
00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:43.200
Niamh McAnally: that there was something between us and that it would continue.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:46.780
Niamh McAnally: And when he got off the airplane, I went to pick him up in his car,
00:36:46.900 --> 00:36:48.580
Niamh McAnally: mind you, when I went to pick him up,
00:36:48.780 --> 00:36:56.100
Niamh McAnally: I looked in his eyes and I saw he wasn't ready and he he was back and we've
00:36:56.100 --> 00:37:01.480
Niamh McAnally: since talked about it and sure enough his his feeling at the time was he wasn't
00:37:01.480 --> 00:37:05.780
Niamh McAnally: ready to commit but he wasn't ready to let me go either um.
00:37:06.867 --> 00:37:11.147
Niamh McAnally: And so we basically took it a day at a time. And, you know, that phrase where
00:37:11.147 --> 00:37:13.187
Niamh McAnally: I like you pretty much, let's see how this goes.
00:37:13.627 --> 00:37:17.427
Niamh McAnally: And that's what we've done. And believe it or not, every day since that,
00:37:17.707 --> 00:37:21.147
Niamh McAnally: or at least on a weekly basis, we check in with each other and say,
00:37:21.247 --> 00:37:22.647
Niamh McAnally: do you still want to be with me? Yeah.
00:37:22.967 --> 00:37:25.607
Niamh McAnally: How's it going? We need to connect. No, really, we do.
00:37:28.687 --> 00:37:32.587
Niamh McAnally: Yeah. And, you know, it keeps it fresh. It keeps us ticking over.
00:37:32.587 --> 00:37:35.707
Niamh McAnally: And there's times, especially now that we're kind of half, well,
00:37:35.827 --> 00:37:39.007
Niamh McAnally: we are land-based at the moment, even though we go out in the water on a smaller
00:37:39.007 --> 00:37:45.027
Niamh McAnally: boat, it really helps us to notice when we're not fully connected, you know?
00:37:45.327 --> 00:37:50.407
Niamh McAnally: Like, you live in a 40-foot space, you are on top of each other 24-7,
00:37:50.407 --> 00:37:54.407
Niamh McAnally: and there's time and room for meaningful conversations.
00:37:54.407 --> 00:37:59.607
Niamh McAnally: But when you get into busy life on land you could go a couple of days and you'd
00:37:59.607 --> 00:38:03.427
Niamh McAnally: be like uh-huh uh-huh i'll see you i'll see you later baba and then you might
00:38:03.427 --> 00:38:10.427
Niamh McAnally: not have actually really connected and so we go through that exercise to to keep us on target so.
00:38:10.427 --> 00:38:16.327
Kevin Lowe: We're all like can you just cut to the chase and where does the love story really begin
00:38:19.347 --> 00:38:22.227
Kevin Lowe: everybody's like enough of this dancing around it
00:38:25.107 --> 00:38:31.587
Niamh McAnally: Well it took a year i think i think it was on the anniversary which we call
00:38:31.587 --> 00:38:38.067
Niamh McAnally: the boat of my stepping on the boat for the first time was january 15th of 2017,
00:38:38.767 --> 00:38:41.927
Niamh McAnally: when he eventually got the love word out of his mouth,
00:38:45.947 --> 00:38:49.187
Niamh McAnally: yeah another slow learner yes another slow
00:38:49.187 --> 00:38:52.207
Niamh McAnally: learner i love it yeah it was it
00:38:52.207 --> 00:38:55.327
Niamh McAnally: was quite amazing and there's a thing on boats
00:38:55.327 --> 00:38:58.907
Niamh McAnally: when you're traveling up and down the different islands you have like you know
00:38:58.907 --> 00:39:02.367
Niamh McAnally: a business card where now they have boat cards and it's a picture of you know
00:39:02.367 --> 00:39:06.207
Niamh McAnally: your boat on one side a picture and usually a picture of the people and then
00:39:06.207 --> 00:39:10.067
Niamh McAnally: you know all the details on the back and that's how boaters stay in touch and
00:39:10.067 --> 00:39:13.607
Niamh McAnally: nearly all a lot of the people out there were couples who'd saved up into retirement.
00:39:13.647 --> 00:39:14.727
Niamh McAnally: They're going to do this for a while.
00:39:15.047 --> 00:39:18.447
Niamh McAnally: Well, Gary had his boat card and it was a picture of him on the front and people
00:39:18.447 --> 00:39:19.687
Niamh McAnally: started asking, well, who was Niahmmh?
00:39:20.087 --> 00:39:24.867
Niamh McAnally: And then you would eventually write my name on. And then that day on our first
00:39:24.867 --> 00:39:30.967
Niamh McAnally: boativersary, he hands me a card and it's a picture of the two of us together
00:39:30.967 --> 00:39:32.527
Niamh McAnally: on the front. So that's when I knew.
00:39:33.007 --> 00:39:38.947
Niamh McAnally: And I jumped in the dinghy. We were down actually in a marathon in the Florida Keys at the time.
00:39:39.067 --> 00:39:42.687
Niamh McAnally: I jumped in the dinghy and I drove around all our friends and all the different
00:39:42.687 --> 00:39:46.187
Niamh McAnally: boats in the Angers and I was like, I'm on the cart! I'm on the cart!
00:39:47.867 --> 00:39:50.787
Niamh McAnally: And they were saying, oh, that's as good as a wedding at sea,
00:39:50.907 --> 00:39:54.287
Niamh McAnally: you know? That's some commitment right there.
00:39:54.687 --> 00:39:56.887
Kevin Lowe: Oh my goodness, that is so...
00:39:57.279 --> 00:40:05.259
Kevin Lowe: So special. Wow. So at that point, because so so when you you guys did the you
00:40:05.259 --> 00:40:06.839
Kevin Lowe: spent four months together at the first.
00:40:07.219 --> 00:40:09.599
Kevin Lowe: Yeah. You were separated for not very long.
00:40:10.099 --> 00:40:10.299
Niamh McAnally: No.
00:40:11.079 --> 00:40:16.359
Kevin Lowe: You reconnect. How long before you guys get married?
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:21.959
Niamh McAnally: So that was 2017 when I got my picture on the front of the boat card.
00:40:22.299 --> 00:40:27.159
Niamh McAnally: And the proposal was Thanksgiving of 2019. So was that almost three years?
00:40:27.279 --> 00:40:28.639
Niamh McAnally: And then we were married.
00:40:28.839 --> 00:40:33.159
Niamh McAnally: We were legally married in Antigua on our boat-aversary. So it was like four
00:40:33.159 --> 00:40:34.919
Niamh McAnally: years from the time I stepped on the boat.
00:40:35.379 --> 00:40:40.159
Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Okay. We're going to go back to Antigua after I ask you this question.
00:40:40.439 --> 00:40:43.239
Kevin Lowe: Okay. You guys got married three times.
00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:44.639
Niamh McAnally: That's correct.
00:40:46.339 --> 00:40:49.819
Kevin Lowe: We want to hear about this because most people get married once.
00:40:50.659 --> 00:40:53.119
Niamh McAnally: Right. And, you know, like three times to the same person.
00:40:56.919 --> 00:41:03.479
Niamh McAnally: So we had what we called a toes in the sand wedding in antigua and there was
00:41:03.479 --> 00:41:07.239
Niamh McAnally: two couples who were there as witnesses they were also on boats and they became
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:11.759
Niamh McAnally: our great friends on the ocean and they have to be in in antigua at the time
00:41:11.759 --> 00:41:16.099
Niamh McAnally: or actually one couple flew in especially for their boat was down in trinidad at the time,
00:41:16.571 --> 00:41:21.071
Niamh McAnally: And so we had that wedding, which was very special, very intimate.
00:41:21.591 --> 00:41:26.691
Niamh McAnally: And we were like signing the legal document out of the back of a van on the side of this dessert.
00:41:28.451 --> 00:41:34.871
Niamh McAnally: So very us. And there's a picture of us afterwards where we are like,
00:41:34.971 --> 00:41:36.891
Niamh McAnally: oh my God, what did we just do?
00:41:37.291 --> 00:41:42.391
Niamh McAnally: And the funniest thing about it is that we had been back in America about,
00:41:42.711 --> 00:41:46.991
Niamh McAnally: oh yeah, before that Thanksgiving moment when he apparently had bought the engagement
00:41:46.991 --> 00:41:49.331
Niamh McAnally: ring and I didn't know anything about it.
00:41:49.471 --> 00:41:51.711
Niamh McAnally: And so when he gave me the engagement ring, I was like, wow.
00:41:52.131 --> 00:41:56.691
Niamh McAnally: And then of course we were still out there in the Caribbean on the ocean when
00:41:56.691 --> 00:41:58.751
Niamh McAnally: it came time for this Antigua wedding.
00:41:59.311 --> 00:42:04.231
Niamh McAnally: And the justice of the peace lady from Antigua who was on the beach with us,
00:42:04.311 --> 00:42:05.531
Niamh McAnally: this is a deserted beach, right?
00:42:06.011 --> 00:42:11.091
Niamh McAnally: And she says, now Gary, blah, blah, blah, it's time to put on the ring.
00:42:11.091 --> 00:42:14.971
Niamh McAnally: So he goes and puts the ring on me and I do the wed and all that good stuff.
00:42:15.111 --> 00:42:17.791
Niamh McAnally: Right. And she turns around to me and she goes, and now Niahm,
00:42:17.911 --> 00:42:19.851
Niamh McAnally: if you're a ring for Gary. And I'm like, huh?
00:42:21.831 --> 00:42:25.151
Niamh McAnally: I don't have a ring for him. I didn't know what to do. Right.
00:42:25.331 --> 00:42:29.651
Niamh McAnally: And so one of the lads who was with us as witness had, he says,
00:42:29.731 --> 00:42:30.891
Niamh McAnally: don't worry, Niahm, I got you covered.
00:42:31.251 --> 00:42:33.971
Niamh McAnally: And he hands me his keys. Right.
00:42:36.711 --> 00:42:41.191
Niamh McAnally: So we take the keys off his key ring chain. And of course, you've got that little
00:42:41.191 --> 00:42:42.731
Niamh McAnally: ring that's left over. Right.
00:42:42.971 --> 00:42:46.771
Niamh McAnally: And so and Gary's looking, knowing full well, I don't have a wedding ring for
00:42:46.771 --> 00:42:49.971
Niamh McAnally: him. He knows I don't. Right. And so I'm going, not a problem.
00:42:50.251 --> 00:42:52.931
Niamh McAnally: And then I just out this. Well, there's a photograph.
00:42:53.311 --> 00:42:57.891
Niamh McAnally: And I tell you what, he's cracking up laugh. And he goes, I got me this most
00:42:57.891 --> 00:43:00.131
Niamh McAnally: beautiful diamond ring with sapphires.
00:43:00.311 --> 00:43:04.131
Niamh McAnally: Like, you know, it looks like us two diamonds in a sapphire sea. And I get a key ring.
00:43:07.771 --> 00:43:11.911
Niamh McAnally: Oh, my God. It was priceless. absolutely priceless but i will in fairness now
00:43:11.911 --> 00:43:20.451
Niamh McAnally: i did get him a ring when we got back to land so that is adorable i know yes.
00:43:20.451 --> 00:43:22.971
Kevin Lowe: So where were the other two weddings
00:43:22.971 --> 00:43:27.771
Niamh McAnally: So the other two weddings one was in ireland in county wicklow we had this manor
00:43:27.771 --> 00:43:32.431
Niamh McAnally: and like i said it was it was put off for 18 months because of covid and everything
00:43:32.431 --> 00:43:36.891
Niamh McAnally: shut down and we weren't able to travel So that was 18 months later and we had
00:43:36.891 --> 00:43:40.611
Niamh McAnally: that wedding and there was a lady down, beautiful,
00:43:40.991 --> 00:43:44.551
Niamh McAnally: I wouldn't call her a tailor, a couture called Noreen.
00:43:45.100 --> 00:43:49.280
Niamh McAnally: And in Antigua, she makes these dresses and like she makes them in the cruise
00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:51.480
Niamh McAnally: ship. People come in, they get a gown.
00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:55.900
Niamh McAnally: She like tailors it and then she delivers to the ship, you know,
00:43:55.960 --> 00:43:57.160
Niamh McAnally: so she's got some gorgeous stuff.
00:43:57.220 --> 00:44:00.980
Niamh McAnally: So anyway, she had made a dress that I was going to wear at my official wedding.
00:44:01.680 --> 00:44:05.440
Niamh McAnally: And it was because of COVID, it was hanging up in the closet on land.
00:44:05.600 --> 00:44:09.800
Niamh McAnally: And it was looking at me every time I thought, are you going to eat that biscuit
00:44:09.800 --> 00:44:15.080
Niamh McAnally: or are you going to wear this dress? You know, it was it was hanging there,
00:44:15.340 --> 00:44:17.780
Niamh McAnally: mocking me for about a year and a half. Like, yeah.
00:44:18.640 --> 00:44:21.860
Niamh McAnally: And then it was finally it was one of Gary's grandchildren said,
00:44:21.920 --> 00:44:25.720
Niamh McAnally: when are we ever going to have this wedding? Because I invited her to be a bridesmaid.
00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:29.880
Niamh McAnally: And we just couldn't make it happen to bring the two families together.
00:44:30.200 --> 00:44:33.120
Niamh McAnally: It would have been put off. And I said, you know what? I'm wearing this dress
00:44:33.120 --> 00:44:35.340
Niamh McAnally: this year or I'm not wearing it at all. That's it. I'm done.
00:44:35.520 --> 00:44:38.460
Niamh McAnally: You know, so that's why we ended up with the two extra weddings,
00:44:38.600 --> 00:44:40.800
Niamh McAnally: one in Ireland and then one in.
00:44:40.980 --> 00:44:43.620
Niamh McAnally: In america for him oh.
00:44:43.620 --> 00:44:47.760
Kevin Lowe: My goodness i love it and you know what i mean it's something as special as
00:44:47.760 --> 00:44:52.020
Kevin Lowe: a wedding why do you have to just have with just one you know right exactly
00:44:52.020 --> 00:44:56.760
Niamh McAnally: Exactly and and now you know there's a there's an expression in ireland where
00:44:56.760 --> 00:45:02.380
Niamh McAnally: we say oh to be sure to be sure well you know it's like now i'm married to be sure to be sure to be sure.
00:45:05.300 --> 00:45:08.660
Kevin Lowe: Oh my goodness i love it so i
00:45:08.660 --> 00:45:13.980
Kevin Lowe: mentioned about wanting to go back to antigua because you're gonna have to correct
00:45:13.980 --> 00:45:21.080
Kevin Lowe: me if this is the start of your writing endeavor or if this was just along the
00:45:21.080 --> 00:45:28.260
Kevin Lowe: way because i know that you met two men in antigua at some point that kicked off writing for you.
00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:33.000
Niamh McAnally: Yeah, I had already started and actually finished my memoir,
00:45:33.180 --> 00:45:34.280
Niamh McAnally: which is called Following Sunshine.
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:41.620
Niamh McAnally: And while we were there, as you said, two men came ashore having rowed a 20-foot
00:45:41.620 --> 00:45:45.360
Niamh McAnally: wooden boat 3,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic.
00:45:45.800 --> 00:45:46.300
Kevin Lowe: Wow.
00:45:47.140 --> 00:45:51.740
Niamh McAnally: Exactly. I was like, what? And to put it in perspective, Gary and I had done
00:45:51.740 --> 00:45:56.540
Niamh McAnally: a 10-day open water passage from the Bahamas down to Puerto Rico in 2018.
00:45:56.900 --> 00:46:01.560
Niamh McAnally: And let me just say it was less than ideal. I remember getting off the boat
00:46:01.560 --> 00:46:06.180
Niamh McAnally: thinking, oh, my God, I've done two open water passages in one, my first and my last.
00:46:06.420 --> 00:46:10.840
Niamh McAnally: And it was really, really rough. And so I was fascinated by these guys.
00:46:10.860 --> 00:46:14.940
Niamh McAnally: And when they cross the finish line in the mouth of the harbor,
00:46:15.560 --> 00:46:22.980
Niamh McAnally: they have this kind of Olympic podium moment where they light their handheld flares and hold them up.
00:46:24.460 --> 00:46:29.520
Niamh McAnally: And it was such a moment and we were out there in our dinghy and I had my uh
00:46:29.520 --> 00:46:33.540
Niamh McAnally: long lens camera with me and I started you know pretending I was a sports photographer
00:46:33.540 --> 00:46:34.500
Niamh McAnally: I was going click click click,
00:46:35.020 --> 00:46:39.640
Niamh McAnally: and at one moment I just turned around to Gary I goosebumps I'm actually getting
00:46:39.640 --> 00:46:44.240
Niamh McAnally: them now talking to you about it I just said oh my god Gary I've got the shot
00:46:44.240 --> 00:46:47.100
Niamh McAnally: now I didn't know what was going to be for I didn't know it was going to be
00:46:47.100 --> 00:46:50.100
Niamh McAnally: anything and I turned around I was actually crying at that point,
00:46:50.200 --> 00:46:51.340
Niamh McAnally: just because it was so incredible.
00:46:51.580 --> 00:46:56.080
Niamh McAnally: And I said to him, I said, this moment is going to live with me for the rest of my life.
00:46:57.760 --> 00:47:03.020
Niamh McAnally: And we dingied back to shore. They came ashore and they literally had to be
00:47:03.020 --> 00:47:06.200
Niamh McAnally: helped off because they were what I call marine lagged.
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:09.920
Niamh McAnally: You know, their legs weren't wobbly because they'd been on the ocean for so long.
00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:13.540
Niamh McAnally: And we found out that they had no family on island to greet them.
00:47:13.700 --> 00:47:16.520
Niamh McAnally: Now there was locals and there was a couple of people from the race officials
00:47:16.520 --> 00:47:18.520
Niamh McAnally: who were there to greet them.
00:47:19.039 --> 00:47:24.799
Niamh McAnally: And so we went over to them after the whole ceremony was over and we invited
00:47:24.799 --> 00:47:29.039
Niamh McAnally: them on to our sailboat for their first home cooked meal the following night.
00:47:29.219 --> 00:47:31.759
Niamh McAnally: And we showed them the photograph I'd taken.
00:47:32.159 --> 00:47:38.559
Niamh McAnally: And one of the lads, Paul, he was 55 at the time and his partner doing the rowing with him was 65.
00:47:39.119 --> 00:47:44.499
Niamh McAnally: And Paul had started out to do this challenge because he had survived a brain hemorrhage.
00:47:44.599 --> 00:47:47.859
Niamh McAnally: He was a firefighter and he thought, oh, I'm going to do something good with
00:47:47.859 --> 00:47:51.479
Niamh McAnally: my life. And so he decided he was going to do the toughest challenge you could find.
00:47:51.859 --> 00:47:54.999
Niamh McAnally: And that was to roll across the Atlantic. There was only one slight problem.
00:47:55.059 --> 00:47:57.099
Niamh McAnally: He didn't have a rowboat and he'd never learned to row before.
00:47:59.299 --> 00:48:03.319
Niamh McAnally: Why would that stop him? So, so I showed him this photograph and I,
00:48:03.399 --> 00:48:08.499
Niamh McAnally: and he said to me, he said, that doesn't just sum up the 70 days at sea,
00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:12.479
Niamh McAnally: but it also sums up the four year struggle it took to get to the starting line.
00:48:13.139 --> 00:48:16.099
Niamh McAnally: And we started talking about it and they
00:48:16.099 --> 00:48:18.959
Niamh McAnally: found out I was a writer and I was fascinated by
00:48:18.959 --> 00:48:21.579
Niamh McAnally: their story and it was like you couldn't make this up if you
00:48:21.579 --> 00:48:24.659
Niamh McAnally: put this in a novel people wouldn't believe you they'd say oh it's contrived
00:48:24.659 --> 00:48:27.379
Niamh McAnally: so I said to them yeah I'd be interested in
00:48:27.379 --> 00:48:30.899
Niamh McAnally: writing their true story on one condition it
00:48:30.899 --> 00:48:34.539
Niamh McAnally: couldn't be about how to row an ocean but
00:48:34.539 --> 00:48:38.079
Niamh McAnally: if they would dig deep spiritually psychologically and
00:48:38.079 --> 00:48:40.839
Niamh McAnally: emotionally as to why they rode the
00:48:40.839 --> 00:48:44.839
Niamh McAnally: ocean how it affected their families and
00:48:44.839 --> 00:48:49.659
Niamh McAnally: after they had time to reflect how had the experience changed them as human
00:48:49.659 --> 00:48:54.999
Niamh McAnally: beings i said that's the story i'd be very happy to write and that's what it
00:48:54.999 --> 00:48:59.839
Niamh McAnally: is and and it turned out that that photograph became the front cover of flares
00:48:59.839 --> 00:49:03.019
Niamh McAnally: up a story bigger than the atlantic Wow.
00:49:03.479 --> 00:49:09.839
Kevin Lowe: Wow, that is so amazing Again, the puzzle pieces They just fit together
00:49:10.847 --> 00:49:15.687
Niamh McAnally: Absolutely. And I was working with that book for, it took me about a year and
00:49:15.687 --> 00:49:17.727
Niamh McAnally: a half to write because I couldn't write it out of my head.
00:49:17.827 --> 00:49:20.667
Niamh McAnally: It was all Zoom call interviews. This is all during COVID as well.
00:49:20.887 --> 00:49:25.727
Niamh McAnally: Zoom call interviews, emails, phone calls, everything to try and get the story,
00:49:25.927 --> 00:49:29.307
Niamh McAnally: but not just the story, but to get their feelings behind it.
00:49:29.307 --> 00:49:32.727
Niamh McAnally: You know, every time they'd send me a little note saying, oh, this happened this day.
00:49:32.867 --> 00:49:35.687
Niamh McAnally: Yeah, well, how did you feel about that? And what did you think about that?
00:49:35.807 --> 00:49:39.167
Niamh McAnally: What happened when you called your family? All those kind of things, you know.
00:49:39.347 --> 00:49:44.827
Niamh McAnally: And I interviewed all of his, their wives, their people that they worked with,
00:49:45.347 --> 00:49:47.107
Niamh McAnally: children, so many people.
00:49:47.207 --> 00:49:50.547
Niamh McAnally: And even the guy who built the boat originally to try and get it authentic.
00:49:50.547 --> 00:49:53.407
Niamh McAnally: And I wrote it to read like a novel.
00:49:54.247 --> 00:49:58.867
Niamh McAnally: And the beauty of it is, and this is a God-given talent I got.
00:49:58.867 --> 00:50:06.127
Niamh McAnally: Yes, I learned my craft of writing, but I have this innate ability to put people in the situation.
00:50:06.307 --> 00:50:09.827
Niamh McAnally: And the amount of people have come back to me and said, I felt I was in that
00:50:09.827 --> 00:50:14.367
Niamh McAnally: boat with them the whole way over, you know. And I mean, it's not all just in the boat.
00:50:14.607 --> 00:50:18.947
Niamh McAnally: Obviously, the whole run up to it. I think the first third of the book is actually
00:50:18.947 --> 00:50:21.107
Niamh McAnally: them preparing and, you know, their family dynamic.
00:50:21.407 --> 00:50:24.447
Niamh McAnally: And so it's not all in the boat. And then, of course, you see what happens to
00:50:24.447 --> 00:50:25.287
Niamh McAnally: them afterwards. words.
00:50:25.907 --> 00:50:30.647
Niamh McAnally: So after I'd finished all that and we had it out, it was published by a UK publisher.
00:50:30.847 --> 00:50:33.067
Niamh McAnally: And then we were doing some marketing on that.
00:50:33.367 --> 00:50:37.667
Niamh McAnally: Then I went back to my memoir, Following Sunshine, and I brought it up to date
00:50:37.667 --> 00:50:40.667
Niamh McAnally: in the epilogue to the moment that I took that photograph.
00:50:41.347 --> 00:50:46.707
Niamh McAnally: And so it just came out. And the subtitle of Following Sunshine is A Voyage
00:50:46.707 --> 00:50:49.847
Niamh McAnally: Around the Mind, Around the World, Around the Heart.
00:50:50.447 --> 00:50:53.127
Niamh McAnally: And it's my story. And that first part around the
00:50:53.127 --> 00:50:56.887
Niamh McAnally: mind is like what we've been talking about growing up in ireland how it was
00:50:56.887 --> 00:51:00.787
Niamh McAnally: impactful you know growing up in the family i grew up in and then the second
00:51:00.787 --> 00:51:04.347
Niamh McAnally: part is around the world which is that year i spent volunteering in all these
00:51:04.347 --> 00:51:09.387
Niamh McAnally: different places and the third one around the heart is from the moment i stepped
00:51:09.387 --> 00:51:12.067
Niamh McAnally: on the sailboat and met gary krieger oh.
00:51:12.067 --> 00:51:15.707
Kevin Lowe: My goodness yeah that sounds amazing
00:51:15.707 --> 00:51:19.627
Niamh McAnally: Yeah it's a good it's a good old read let me tell you and.
00:51:19.627 --> 00:51:24.907
Kevin Lowe: And for somebody dying to read it where can people go to to purchase this book
00:51:24.907 --> 00:51:32.067
Niamh McAnally: So in america yeah obviously it's on amazon and it's in local bookstores and
00:51:32.067 --> 00:51:36.567
Niamh McAnally: the best place to follow me or to find me and find all my different things that
00:51:36.567 --> 00:51:41.787
Niamh McAnally: are coming out in new books etc is on my website which coincidentally is called
00:51:41.787 --> 00:51:44.427
Niamh McAnally: the writer on the water.com.
00:51:45.425 --> 00:51:46.065
Kevin Lowe: Original.
00:51:46.665 --> 00:51:47.285
Niamh McAnally: Yeah, very original.
00:51:49.305 --> 00:51:54.085
Niamh McAnally: Let's just put it this way. It's a whole lot easier to spell when I'm doing a radio interview.
00:51:54.265 --> 00:51:57.045
Niamh McAnally: People are like, what? Rather than my name, right? Which, as you know,
00:51:57.085 --> 00:52:00.165
Niamh McAnally: is a Gaelic name. So there's a lot of letters and consonants in there.
00:52:00.325 --> 00:52:03.585
Niamh McAnally: So my whole brand is called TheWriterOnTheWater.com.
00:52:04.105 --> 00:52:11.045
Kevin Lowe: The Writer on the Water. What a beautiful name for a beautiful story with a
00:52:11.045 --> 00:52:16.585
Kevin Lowe: beautiful woman. And honest to goodness, you yourself are amazing.
00:52:17.005 --> 00:52:20.545
Kevin Lowe: Your story is just so joy-filled.
00:52:20.785 --> 00:52:26.165
Kevin Lowe: I think that's honestly the thing that I love the most about you and your story
00:52:26.165 --> 00:52:31.005
Kevin Lowe: is a perspective on life that I wish more of us had.
00:52:31.205 --> 00:52:34.745
Kevin Lowe: Of looking at life for the beauty, for the joy.
00:52:35.125 --> 00:52:39.745
Kevin Lowe: And finding those little moments in amongst it all to just appreciate it.
00:52:39.745 --> 00:52:46.685
Kevin Lowe: And listening to you and telling the story that's turned into this just amazing love story.
00:52:47.005 --> 00:52:51.685
Kevin Lowe: I think it gives all of us a little bit of hope, no matter where we are in life,
00:52:52.185 --> 00:52:57.805
Kevin Lowe: that sometimes you just got to keep going because you never know what the decisions
00:52:57.805 --> 00:53:00.125
Kevin Lowe: you make today, how they're going to impact tomorrow.
00:53:00.885 --> 00:53:04.565
Niamh McAnally: Absolutely. And I mean, speaking of joy, there's no one better than you than
00:53:04.565 --> 00:53:10.345
Niamh McAnally: looking at life through joyful eyes and, you know, and encouraging everybody else with your podcast.
00:53:10.745 --> 00:53:14.845
Niamh McAnally: And I think the one thing that I would share from my experience is,
00:53:14.965 --> 00:53:17.145
Niamh McAnally: number one, it's never too late.
00:53:17.945 --> 00:53:21.045
Niamh McAnally: And number two, never put off a dream.
00:53:22.125 --> 00:53:25.505
Kevin Lowe: I agree. I love it. Before we end,
00:53:25.665 --> 00:53:26.585
Niamh McAnally: Is there anything.
00:53:26.585 --> 00:53:28.445
Kevin Lowe: Else that you want to be sure
00:53:28.445 --> 00:53:29.605
Niamh McAnally: That this person.
00:53:29.605 --> 00:53:34.325
Kevin Lowe: Listening today knows about you about your story about what you do or what you have coming up
00:53:34.325 --> 00:53:37.385
Niamh McAnally: Yeah let me just very briefly tell you about my
00:53:37.385 --> 00:53:44.585
Niamh McAnally: time in Bora Bora in French Polynesia oh yes I kept putting that off and the
00:53:44.585 --> 00:53:48.745
Niamh McAnally: reason I put it off was number one it's a very expensive destination it swallows
00:53:48.745 --> 00:53:55.285
Niamh McAnally: your firstborn your wallet your house everything right and number two it is
00:53:55.285 --> 00:53:57.025
Niamh McAnally: the honeymoon capital of the world.
00:53:57.285 --> 00:54:00.745
Niamh McAnally: So I was single at that time trying to find my place when I was going around
00:54:00.745 --> 00:54:03.445
Niamh McAnally: was before I met Gary and I kept putting it off.
00:54:03.625 --> 00:54:08.945
Niamh McAnally: And then finally I found a way and I ended up staying eight nights on Bora Bora,
00:54:09.045 --> 00:54:12.125
Niamh McAnally: the main island for the price of one night on one of the resorts.
00:54:12.805 --> 00:54:18.525
Niamh McAnally: And I found a little pension and I ate from food trucks and I got to experience
00:54:18.525 --> 00:54:24.605
Niamh McAnally: the incredible, beautiful blue Azure Lagoon and the whole experience.
00:54:25.045 --> 00:54:29.245
Niamh McAnally: And that taught me the lesson, never, ever, ever put off a dream.
00:54:30.625 --> 00:54:38.885
Niamh McAnally: And also, we don't know how we as one human being can impact another person.
00:54:40.078 --> 00:54:45.538
Niamh McAnally: And a story that came up during the it's actually in the writing of a little
00:54:45.538 --> 00:54:47.938
Niamh McAnally: bit of a spoiler alert. It's in the writing of Following Sunshine.
00:54:48.538 --> 00:54:52.238
Niamh McAnally: Years and years ago, when I was in one of those despondent places is after,
00:54:52.238 --> 00:54:56.198
Niamh McAnally: you know, I was out of a relationship and I didn't know what direction to go in.
00:54:56.378 --> 00:54:59.238
Niamh McAnally: I ended up sponsoring a kid from Bolivia.
00:54:59.438 --> 00:55:01.858
Niamh McAnally: You know, back in the day, you were able, oh, here's a charity.
00:55:02.118 --> 00:55:05.218
Niamh McAnally: And, you know, you write to the kid every week and you sponsor them to help
00:55:05.218 --> 00:55:08.498
Niamh McAnally: them either get more programs at school or something like that.
00:55:09.478 --> 00:55:15.338
Niamh McAnally: And I did that and I did it for two reasons one I made it my number one job no matter what I,
00:55:15.878 --> 00:55:18.698
Niamh McAnally: position I was in financial I was going to do that every month and number two
00:55:18.698 --> 00:55:25.378
Niamh McAnally: I wasn't going to tell anybody and back to my whole psyche of freelance variety
00:55:25.378 --> 00:55:29.618
Niamh McAnally: start again it was the longest commitment of my life that I had ever done at
00:55:29.618 --> 00:55:33.458
Niamh McAnally: that point which was 10 years to do this every month and write back and forth.
00:55:34.058 --> 00:55:39.478
Niamh McAnally: And when the kid turned 18, the charity said, okay, you're done and dusted.
00:55:39.598 --> 00:55:42.838
Niamh McAnally: Here's another kid you could start with. And I went, no, I'd like to keep writing to him.
00:55:42.978 --> 00:55:45.158
Niamh McAnally: Thank you very much. And said, no, we can't give you his details.
00:55:46.118 --> 00:55:51.318
Niamh McAnally: So years and years and years and years passed by and I was never able to find him.
00:55:51.458 --> 00:55:57.498
Niamh McAnally: And then one day I'm on the boat with Gary and this friend request comes up
00:55:57.498 --> 00:55:58.958
Niamh McAnally: on Facebook and I'm like,
00:55:59.078 --> 00:56:01.978
Niamh McAnally: the name is kind of familiar but i don't have no mutual friends
00:56:01.978 --> 00:56:05.178
Niamh McAnally: who's this and it turned out to be the boy
00:56:05.178 --> 00:56:08.438
Niamh McAnally: ivan who's now a man and guess
00:56:08.438 --> 00:56:14.458
Niamh McAnally: what he became he from bolivia went on through that whole schooling and he became
00:56:14.458 --> 00:56:22.978
Niamh McAnally: a doctor and he studied for nine years in cuba and then went back to bolivia
00:56:22.978 --> 00:56:26.338
Niamh McAnally: to his local town and became the doctor in the local town.
00:56:26.538 --> 00:56:31.078
Niamh McAnally: And I was like, oh my God, you know, we've no idea how we can impact another
00:56:31.078 --> 00:56:34.518
Niamh McAnally: human being. And now talk about the butterfly effect.
00:56:34.958 --> 00:56:38.278
Niamh McAnally: Look how he's impacting other people by taking care of them,
00:56:38.458 --> 00:56:40.398
Niamh McAnally: you know, in remote areas.
00:56:40.678 --> 00:56:46.898
Kevin Lowe: It's incredible. You know what it goes back to is love, is caring for one another,
00:56:47.398 --> 00:56:51.138
Kevin Lowe: for taking the time to be there for one another.
00:56:52.278 --> 00:56:55.898
Kevin Lowe: And you have to look at that and you have to know in your heart
00:56:57.020 --> 00:57:01.980
Kevin Lowe: You had to play a massive role in where that where that man is today.
00:57:02.480 --> 00:57:05.860
Niamh McAnally: Yeah. And Gary said to me, he said something like that to me.
00:57:05.920 --> 00:57:09.240
Niamh McAnally: And I said, no, I just wrote to him and, you know, exchange letters and all that kind of good stuff.
00:57:09.940 --> 00:57:13.660
Niamh McAnally: Well, here's a massive spoiler alert. I'm only telling you I haven't told anybody
00:57:13.660 --> 00:57:16.180
Niamh McAnally: else in any any conversations or interviews I did.
00:57:16.320 --> 00:57:21.040
Niamh McAnally: I said to him someday I want to meet him and I can't go to Bolivia because where
00:57:21.040 --> 00:57:24.800
Niamh McAnally: he lives is like way up in the mountains. and I suffer from altitude sickness.
00:57:25.360 --> 00:57:28.300
Niamh McAnally: Well, for my birthday this year, I have four rules.
00:57:28.460 --> 00:57:32.640
Niamh McAnally: One is I always celebrate on the day, not the Saturday before or after because
00:57:32.640 --> 00:57:35.320
Niamh McAnally: somebody else wants to not have a hangover going after a party.
00:57:37.460 --> 00:57:42.700
Niamh McAnally: And number three, I celebrate Mother's Day on that, Mother's and Father's Day
00:57:42.700 --> 00:57:45.960
Niamh McAnally: on that day, not the day that the card company tells me to do it because that's
00:57:45.960 --> 00:57:47.060
Niamh McAnally: the day they became my parents.
00:57:47.340 --> 00:57:51.280
Niamh McAnally: And number four, I have to do something I have never done before in my whole life.
00:57:51.280 --> 00:57:54.080
Niamh McAnally: And this year it was like i'm running out
00:57:54.080 --> 00:57:57.100
Niamh McAnally: of things because i've done quite a little bit of things right and i
00:57:57.100 --> 00:58:00.000
Niamh McAnally: went i want to go meet him and it
00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:05.300
Niamh McAnally: turned out he's back doing his special his specialty in hematology in cuba and
00:58:05.300 --> 00:58:12.160
Niamh McAnally: we went down and we met him in person for the first time ever oh my gosh i know
00:58:12.160 --> 00:58:18.920
Niamh McAnally: i can't i can't tell you how amazing that experience was yes wow Well.
00:58:19.380 --> 00:58:25.180
Kevin Lowe: Niahm, if you have made my day, I can only imagine for whoever is listening,
00:58:25.380 --> 00:58:27.880
Kevin Lowe: wherever in the world they are, that you've made their day.
00:58:28.260 --> 00:58:33.680
Kevin Lowe: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here today to get to share just
00:58:33.680 --> 00:58:38.900
Kevin Lowe: this little piece of your story with me, with my listeners. It means the world.
00:58:39.780 --> 00:58:43.980
Niamh McAnally: Well, thank you so much. I love talking with you. You are such an inspiration yourself.
00:58:44.440 --> 00:58:51.740
Kevin Lowe: Oh, well, thank you so much. And for you listening, wow, what an interview that was.
00:58:51.900 --> 00:58:57.140
Kevin Lowe: A conversation with a woman who is just a ray of sunlight.
00:58:57.320 --> 00:59:04.080
Kevin Lowe: An amazing soul who, I feel like we're all just been blessed by her presence today.
00:59:04.400 --> 00:59:08.300
Kevin Lowe: So my friend, if there's somebody you're thinking of that you know would love
00:59:08.300 --> 00:59:11.080
Kevin Lowe: to hear this, be sure to share today's episode with them.
00:59:11.080 --> 00:59:16.740
Kevin Lowe: And if anything else, just take something you heard today, put it into action
00:59:16.740 --> 00:59:21.920
Kevin Lowe: in your life, always in the hope of making today a little bit better than yesterday
00:59:21.920 --> 00:59:24.200
Kevin Lowe: and tomorrow even better than next.
00:59:24.080 --> 00:59:43.707