Scotland 2022

Day 8

(For reference, Rob’s brother Dan—now deceased—played the bagpipes.)

Yesterday I followed bagpipers through Edinburgh. If they had played “Danny Boy,” I would have wept. It was not unlike the last scene in Braveheart when Mel Gibson is about to be beheaded. As he surveys the surrounding crowd, he begins to see dead loved ones showing up.

I have come here with these beloved pilgrims directly from Iona, officially dubbed “a thin place,” where heaven meets earth. My intent is to acknowledge these thin places more often as I go forward. Even in the seemingly godforsaken city, I believe they are all around me. As in, we live in thinness, whether we notice it or not.