It's 1981 - Leaving Cert Year - I'm 16 and I'm making my way to Sunday evening mass at 8.00 in The Priory. It's become our Sunday night ritual, me and my ma. My ma is 40. Back then I considered 40 old. 

We are going to mass because my ma loves a song the folk group always sing. 'Lord is it Mine' by Supertramp. I like the song, too, but I'm going to pray for a pass in the Leavin.'

I failed. Not every exam, but enough to have an overall fail. I got an honour in higher grade Spanish. That's a whole other story.

I'm 61 now. I've been busking in Tallaght for the last two years. I recently learned and played that song. I sang it for my ma. I'm always thinking about loved ones who have passed. Aren't we all? Whenever I hear the song it feels like I'm stepping back into happy times from a past that was so much more wonderful than I realised ... at that time.