SOL 3/17 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

  17 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers

Today is one of my favorite days of the year.  It is the day that everyone wears green (my favorite color) and pretends that they have a wee bit of Irish blood in 'em.  As someone who does have tiny bit of Irish blood, I can happily celebrate with the rest of the world.

I'm not into the drinking and carrying on of St. Patrick's Day.  In college (go Bearcats!), this day always meant Kegs and Eggs and the World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day parade (between the two bars on a street...basically half a block).  The drinking part was never my scene.  I felt connected to a culture, though, which was a new thing.

Growing up, I created the family tree like most kid do in elementary school.  I have to say that my family's background is nothing exciting.  In fact, it is pretty dang vanilla compared to others.  On my dad's side, I am French Canadian.  On my mom's side, I am English and Scots Irish- I know that isn't anything like full Irish blood, but it is a close as I can get.  I was always a little jealous of my classmates with full Italian or Native American blood.  Their cultures sounded so exotic and fun to study.  Mine was pretty dull.  I was a mutt...a bit of this and a bit of that.  It wasn't until I was older that I truly appreciated my culture and wanted to learn more about it.

In college, I studied more about the English and Irish culture through my history classes for my double major.  The more I learned, the more I felt like I could identify with a culture. 

My dream is to travel to Ireland and the United Kingdom and to really soak up that culture.  I want to see the places that I found on Ancestry.com as I researched more about where my great great grandparents came from in Northern Ireland and Scotland and England and Canada.  Until I win the lottery, however, I will celebrate my wee Irish roots on St. Patrick's day with my grandma's corned beef and cabbage recipe, and be happy for another year.  Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!






Comments

  1. drferreriblogspot.comMarch 17, 2013 at 7:09 AM

    I'm a full 50% Irish...but it's a quiet "vanilla" blend that does not go wild on this Holiday. We will do corned beef (although I dislike it) and cabbage....and add some green jello (although I dislike it) just for fun! We always do -

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dana MurphyMarch 17, 2013 at 8:48 AM

    I'm a mutt, too. My husband is 100% Irish and he took me to Ireland. It's beautiful and steeped in history. You just inspired me to write about it.

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  3. Beverley BairdMarch 17, 2013 at 9:08 AM

    We had the same idea - looking back on our roots, our heritage. A lovely post!

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  4. TamMarch 17, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    I'm glad you can celebrate St. Patrick's Day with flair. I like it because it's green and close to spring/summer. My family background is really scattered and blurry--Russian, Lithuanian, Yugoslavian, etc. We've always chosen the Russian side to go with because of my mom's church. This is becoming a post. Thanks for sharing St. Patty's Day with us.

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  5. writekimwriteMarch 17, 2013 at 11:58 AM

    I hope you bet to Ireland one day. Happy celebrating for today! Green, green, green lovers dream today!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Julie JohnsonMarch 17, 2013 at 9:12 PM

    My kids are Bearcats too!! Small world. Like you, I have a Scotch-Irish background. St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorites too.

    ReplyDelete

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