Dublin, Ireland (June 30, 2025)
I’ve just had one of the most epic weeks of my life despite so many opportunities for it not to happen at all. Isn’t that just like life?
About a month ago, Violet had a mental health crisis and was hospitalized. I learned what the terms “involuntary inpatient” meant and for the next two weeks, the only way I or any of my family members could speak with Violet was for one hour each day on the phone and that was if the line wasn’t busy (as it was a shared line).
Simply put, my 18 months of careful planning was turned on its head. In the days that followed, it became clear that what was best for Violet was to remain home and get the outpatient care and support that she needed. Given all the changes and circumstances, I spent those weeks debating if I should scrap the whole trip myself. Any prior illusions of “control” were gone.
Choosing to Continue With My Trip
While not an easy decision, I ultimately decided to get on the plane on Sunday, June 29th. My first stop was with a dear friend of mine, Anne-Marie Griffin and I knew that spending time with a close friend (who also happens to be an incredible coach) would help me process my own experience, let go of whatever I was holding onto and begin my journey. My wife, Elena, agreed with my decision and had previously been encouraging me to go. Violet, too, was on board and will join me as soon as she has the support she needs and is cleared for take off.
Anne-Marie Griffin Welcomes Bill Carmody to Dublin, Ireland
Instantly, I’m grateful I’ve decided to begin my journey. The flight to Dublin is seamless. Despite being a red-eye, I’m wide awake with energy and raring to go. Anne-Marie meets me at the airport and since I have only the one backpack, we go straight to LinkedIn for breakfast. And what an incredible breakfast it was. Incredible foods from around the world with any style or preference you could imagine. (I kept it simple with a made-to-order omelet, but couldn’t resist the Irish sausages).
LinkedIn Celebrating Pride Month (June 2025)
After breakfast, I admired all the incredible signage supporting Pride Month around LinkedIn. I was just catching the tail end on June 30th, and the displays were incredible. The butterflies in the shape of a heart with a Pride Flag and the LinkedIn logo at the center. Such attention to detail and so thoughtful. Violet would have loved these displays so I sent her my first “wish you were here” text.
St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre
We poked around Dublin (mostly to help me stay awake and alert) before driving back to Anne-Marie’s home in Greystones. We ended up over at St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre which is the oldest in Dublin and it’s really stunning to look at. The architecture and design has you really appreciate the look of what a shopping experience can be. To be clear, I didn’t buy anything as I’m travelling light, but it was a beautiful experience.
We then headed to Trinity College and walked around the campus taking in all the sights and bustling of college life (despite being the summer months).
From there, we headed back to Greystones where I got settled, unpacked and got my bearings for the rest of the week. I should mention that Anne-Marie and I walked in excess of 10,000 steps (my Apple Watch clocked a total of 22,000 for me including my Airport steps) and she’s currently 34 weeks pregnant. Yes, she’s a total badass.
When I began writing this post, I was planning to share the whole week and now realize that there’s simply too much to pack into a single post, so I’ll do each day justice with a single post. This is Day One of Week One. And I’m working on updating the “Gallery” so that it’s better organized by country. I have loads of pictures and just need some time to upload the if you’d like to flip through them. More to come!
