St. Patrick's Day

Since today is St.Patrick's Day, I wanted to write a few thoughts about being part Irish and my heritage. In 2005, my daughter and I took a trip to Ireland,Scotland and England. One of her college suite mates was from England and my daughter was going to go solo and spend part of the trip with her suite mate, S. At the last minute she asked me to go along. Well, with her planning every aspect of the trip, all I needed to do was pack and have my passport in hand. I had always wanted to go to Ireland in particular after hearing stories of the Dwyers (my dad's mother's side of the family) and the Jamisons (my mom's mom's side of the family). So, I am probably somewhere between a fourth and a half Irish. There was even talk that my maiden name, Ford, had been O'Ford originally. I'm not sure of the truth about that one. Anyway, off to the land of green we went. Since Ireland was our first stop, we were jet lagged and it was raining. The stories of rain in Ireland are all true, hence the green part! We stayed at a B&B on the outskirts of Dublin and had what the Irish ate for breakfast. One day, we endeavored to walk to Dublin from the B&B. We soon learned that was too far to walk and became acquainted with the bus system there. Ireland has LOTS
of buses going constantly. One day while we were in Dublin, the rain and wind tore our cheap umbrellas, that we had brought from the states, into inside out unusable pieces of fabric and aluminum. So that gave us the opportunity to buy Irish umbrellas, or umbrellas purchased in Ireland. I still use mine today. My daughter also got a cute raincoat that day.
On our way home, we had to find the right numbered bus that our B&B lady had told us to take. There was a pub right down the street from the B&B and we didn't want to miss our stop. So,not knowing the name of the pub, my daughter told the bus driver to let us off at the pub. Yes, there are many, many pubs all over this land of my ancestors. We knew what this pub looked like, but not the name of it as I recall. The bus driver must have really thought we needed a drink badly, because as soon as he came to the pub, he said, "There's the pub!!" We got off quicker than a leprechaun, clicking our heels and happy to be at the pub! Instead of going into the pub, we ran soaking wet back to our comfortable home away from home to put on dry clothes and recoup.
So, today, when you see a pub, pray for the Irish. When you see an Irish Setter, pray for the Irish. When you eat your Lucky Charms cereal, pray for the Irish. When you see 11:11 on your digital clock, pray for the Irish. These are all reminders of the Irish part of my heritage. Since St. Patrick was a praying man, let's honor the day with prayers for the people of Ireland and your Irish background, even if you just have a wee bit of the green in your genes.
Oh, the video is in memory of a dear friend of ours who loved River Dance. Happy St. Patrick's Day!