After eleven years, I finally said goodbye to my last Guinness glass.

It all started twelve years ago when Marilyn and I went on our honeymoon to Ireland. Each day we wove our way across the gorgeous countryside, and at nightfall retired to the local pub for supper. Lamb stew and shepherd’s pie stuffed with root vegetables were always good choices from the menu. Irish session music kept our feet tapping while we sipped cold Guinness from the pull tap, or Extra Cold Guinness, as they call it these days. With the music-a-swingin’, beers-a-pourin’, and our hands-a-holdin’, it would have been hard not to fall in love all over again.

Admittedly, I didn’t purchase my Guinness glass while in Ireland. I never imagined it would survive being tossed around a suitcase during the long journey home. But as luck would have it, on our first Christmas together as newlyweds, Marilyn surprised me with a set of four glasses shipped specially from Ireland, and I’ve used them ever since.

But even when handled with care, glass can break, and each of my beer glasses broke one by one over the years. The last remaining glass, which outlasted the others by four years, slipped out of my hand while washing last night, chipping the edge and splitting the glass down the side.

I knew my last bottle of Guinness was sadly alone in the fridge. How would it react to the news? Not wanting to disappoint, I decided to use the chipped glass one last time. I popped open the bottle and poured it into the glass. After enjoying a sip of creamy foam, I pulled out my watercolors and immortalized the glass in my sketchbook while my Extra Cold Guinness melted to room temperature. Okay, I admit it. I sipped my subject as I painted. But the beer was warm by the time I got to the bottom.

Drinking a glass of Guinness always brings me back to Dick Mack’s pub in Ireland were I heard the best session music ever. Outside the pub there is a sign that reads: “Where’s Dick Mack’s? Opposite the church. Where’s the church? Opposite Dick Mack’s.”