March 17, 2012 Post

Whenever St. Patrick's Day rolls around I inevitably am reminded of my father and his Irish heritage. He took great pride in it and when asked why he wasn't wearing green, replied "I'm 100% Irish, I don't need to". This year thinking of my family is more painful than usual. It reminds me of the Mary Engelbreit greeting card I sent to someone who had a similar dysfunctional family background:

"Let's put the fun back in dysfunctional"

When I went to college, drinking green beer on March 17 was a time honored tradition and the multitude of bars started serving green beer at 8 a.m. Green beer is not something you want to get inebriated on or be around someone who is. Let's just say the operative word here is "gross". Fortunately, I find beer tasty only on a super hot summer day after working in the garden or on the extremely rare occasion when I've been dragged to a baseball game. Then, I only really want a taste, half a beer at the most.

Then there's the classic dyeing of the Chicago river a brilliant shade of green! It's a 50 year old tradition. Even though I lived just outside the city for five years, I never made the effort to go in to see it since the drinking starts very early in the morning.

Photo Source

There are those that go a totally different but equally novel "green" route and sport the following dye job. I bet the little fur ball is wondering how he's going to live this one down among doggie friends.

Photo Source

So may you all have a day of luck and a year of good fortune and...

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Traditional Irish Blessing