"The year was 1982. As I was on the verge of entering the world, my grandparents undertook a pilgrimage to Jordan and Israel - a popular pursuit among Irish Catholics eager to explore sites documented in the Bible and deepen their relationship with God."
"The highlight of their itinerary was visiting the River Jordan, where Jesus was baptised."
"Along with a lifetime of memories, my grandmother brought home some of the water for my own baptism, which, according to my mother, explained why I was such an angelic baby."
The year was 1982, just before the narrator's birth, when their grandparents traveled on a pilgrimage to Jordan and Israel. The pilgrimage reflected a common practice among Irish Catholics to visit biblical sites and strengthen religious devotion. The most significant stop on the journey was the River Jordan, identified as the site of Jesus's baptism. The grandmother collected and returned with water from the River Jordan to use in the narrator's baptism. The family linked that water to the narrator's temperament, with the mother attributing the child's angelic infancy to the River Jordan water. The trip combined spiritual intention with family memory-making, leaving a tangible relic and family lore.
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