Irish Dance In Heaven

Two aging Irish dancers, Marcie and Fiona, had been best of friends since the age of six.

Years later Marcie became deathly ill and both knew her time was coming soon.

They were constant companions throughout life and Fiona made it a point to visit Marcie everyday in the hospital.

It was on one of these visits that Fiona said, “Marcie, I have always cherished my memories of Irish Dance, the Feis, the shows, the Oireachtas… it was everything to me as much as it was to you. So I have one request: when you get to heaven, if there is any way you can let me know, could you tell me if there’s Irish dance there? It would mean my life to me.”

Marcie reached out her trembling hand from her deathbed and responded, “Fiona, you are my soul mate, if there is any way I could do this favor for you, you know I will.”

A few days later Marcie passed away.

The days passed by and Fiona heard nothing from Marcie.

About a month later, Fiona was wakened from her sleep by a bright light in her room and the sound of someone calling her name, “Fiona, Fiona!”

“Who… who’s there”, asked Fiona bolting upright and covering her eyes from the glaring light at the foot of her bed.

“Don’t you recognize your best friend’s voice, it’s me… Marcie!”

“Ma… Marcie? But Marcie is dead!”

“That I am,” the voice replied, “And I’m in heaven to boot!”

“Heaven?” Fiona replied squinting.

“Heaven indeed!” said Marcie adding, “And I’ve got some good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news,” asked Fiona.

“The good news is that they have Irish dance in heaven and all of our old friends who passed away before me are here too! And I’m young again, we’re all young again! I’m sixteen and back Irish dancing like I never left off. I can dance for hours without getting tired or sore and there’s a Feis here every weekend. I’m over the moon!”

“That’s… that’s incredible,” stammered Fiona adding, “It’s more than I can dream! But tell me, what’s the bad news?”

Marcie responded, “You’re competing with me in two-hand on Saturday!”