peter
“The strongest bond I share with my mum is our love of art. When me and my siblings were children, she would take us to visit a different art gallery in Dublin every weekend. We did them all. We would always start in the gift shop. My mum would let us pick a postcard with a gallery painting on it and then off we’d go to find it, like a game of hide-and-seek. She has this amazing ability to make something that would seem so dull for a child the most exciting part of our week – the sheer excitement when I would find my painting! I loved art so much, that when I left school I did an undergrad in Art History and Italian in Trinity. My mum, for reasons beyond her control, never got to go to college. She’s always been so bright and loves to learn, so it devastated her. Two years ago, after much convincing, she applied to and was accepted to study Art History in Trinity. I was in the third year and she was in first. We studied together, swapped notes and proofread each other’s essays. It was a serious role reversal when I watched her graduate from Trinity! I had never been more proud of her in that moment. To this day we still nerd out and do our gallery trips. Now, instead of postcards, we buy the gallery book and describe the paintings to each other as we walk around. From the beginning, she taught me that it’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. I’ve carried that with me ever since.“
Have you ever wondered what’s the story behind the person you share your daily commute with? We’ve created a series with Irish Rail to reveal some of them! This series continues on their social media so head over to @iarnrodeireann to see if you recognise any familiar faces!