I grew up in a small village with the unique name of Prosperous. My mother ran a general store on the main street, just as my grandfather had before her.
My earliest memories include a feeling of being accepted and loved by my family. There was four of us kids—two brothers and one sister and me.
I remember a small red convertible sports car I played with almost all the time. It had a few scratches and one tire was missing the wheel cover, but I loved that car. I was always happy playing on my own. Sometimes I would play with my brother or sister, but usually I preferred to be alone. I was able to construct imaginary worlds, create different scenarios, and be happy and entertained for hours at a time.
My mother was never far away so I thought of myself as independent. Actually, it was nice to look up, every once in a while, and see her through the kitchen window. I was never really alone, there was always someone around. I was very happy being “on my own.” I would say that’s one of my richest memories—a warm, secure feeling of being loved and accepted while being content to be on my own at the same time.
My Parents
My mother ran a shop in front of our house, which was established by my grandfather. I remember growing up in a very busy household. And at the shop, there was always something going on. There were lots of people coming and going. I remember playing with the empty bottles of Fanta and Coke. They were returns we used to stack outside before they were sent to back for the recycling center. I’d create an imaginary store or a farm or sometimes a bar. I’d set up in the back yard. I could spend hours pretending I was a shopkeeper or a bartender. It was my earliest memory of getting lost in my imagination. I started school early, at four and a half. At that time my father was in the hospital with a weird illness called Brucellosis.
I remember the fashions of the late 70s and early 80s. The clothes, at the time, were very artful and very colourful. I also remember the music. It was new and different and I loved it. And there was quite a variety; disco, the Beatles, Abba, and a whole bunch of new artists and great music.
The girls who worked at the shop were teenagers and into Donny Osmond and Elvis. I remember and the atmosphere around the house and the shop overlapped with each other. It was lively and I got to know a lot of the same people coming and going. There was bingo night on Friday. Lots of family dropped by; aunts and uncles on both sides of the family. My aunt carrie and Bridie Conolloy made soda bread and fancy cakes. We even had a housekeeper since my mother Chrissie was so busy running the store. When my aunt and uncle would pop over for a whiskey there were always friends and Famiy to greet them. I was surrounded with people who were encouraging and supportive of me. I guess you could say, before it became a popular expression—it took a village to raise me. And I loved every minute of it.
Grandfather Lavin
We lived with my grandfather, who was a huge influence on all of us. My Grandfather was a shopkeeper, with a difference. He was also a shoemaker, a watch and clock repairer, a gardener, a lover of Irish music, a patriot or nationalist, and a fisherman. He had so many different interests. He enjoyed bingo, collected cuckoo clocks among a variety of collectible. And famously, my grandfather had a wooden leg, which was a replacement because of an accident he had in his youth when he lived in the West of Ireland. Only with the help of Baron de Freyne, of Frenchpark House, that he was saved by having him shipped over to the hospital in Baggot Street in Dublin. He ended up moving from the West of Ireland to work in Clongowes Wood College and later on established his own business.
He was quite a character with a larger-than-life personality. He lived with us, which must have been difficult for my father. Living and growing up with him was an adventure. You could find him doing something different throughout the day; anything from loading his fishing rods into his Morris Minor to looking for parts for a watch, or he might be driving miles away to look at some collectible item that caught his interest. To say the least, he was very active.
Grandfather was known to hold card games for customers after hours in the shop. So, we in a way were brought up always helping people, listening to people’s stories, and welcoming the many different kinds of people from the landed gentleman, who would be very annoyed if the Telegraph newspaper wasn’t reserved for him, to the cleaners and farm laborers. We were exposed to diverse and wild personalities on a daily basis, and that was an education in itself.
We often had callers after hours and even on Christmas day. Tom Dowling was one of those who would knock on our sitting room window past midnight. He would spend the evening drinking at Larry’s Pub, then he’d come in to get maybe eight ounces of ham and some bread and cheese and tell a few yarns. Of course, the smell the whiskey reached us before we even heard his voice. After that, he would get back on his bicycle and cycle up a considerable hill called Ballinfagh Hill, then a few more miles around to the lake near his home. It was the place he always made his home.
Hail, rain, sleet or snow, no matter how drunk he was; he would get himself home. He was a farm laborer and told me stories about driving cattle to Smithfield market in Dublin—a journey that would take a few days and include a few pubs along the way. He did pull ups on the beam inside his kitchen to keep fit. It was great having these colorful characters coming into the shop and making our lives more interesting and never dull. If anything, I’m much more open to meeting people as a result. I also learned about the satisfaction of helping and serving others.
Mike OToole is a Photographer, Film maker and Creative Teacher. Lürzers Archive recognised him twice as being among the 200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide, and he has won awards for his work from The Association of Photographers (Uk) and Communications arts (USA) and The New York Food Film Festival. His work in the field of Commercial Photography has been featured in publications ranging from Conde Nast Traveller, The Wall St Journal, and The Washington Post.
