St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm still trying to find something green today to wear. Chuck took Aimee to her gymnastics workout this morning. Tragically, Aimee didn't have a green leotard to wear today. She was concerned that she was going to get pinched but we managed to find a hair scrunchie with some green in it so hopefully that will do the trick.

My most vivid memory of St. Patrick's day growing up was the one when my brother and I asked my dad why he wasn't wearing green. He just kind of grunted and didn't answer so my brother taped a piece of green paper to his back. When Dad discovered it he pulled it off and told us that he hated St. Patrick's day. He refused to wear green because growing up he always had to fight Irish kids. He was a lone French boy growing up in the Irish Channel section of New Orleans and I guess back in those days names like the "French Quarter" and the "Irish Channel" actually meant something.

I've concluded that one benefit he derived from such tough experiences is that he learned to handle his fists so well that he turned into a boxer. He had quite a successful amateur boxing career and even a brief pro stint. Of course all this was way before I was born. When my Granmere, his mother, found out about his boxing ,which I guess he had kept secret from her, she convinced him to give it up.

Despite my father's early experiences with the Irish, when I married an Irish man, I didn't hear a word about it from my dad, who loved Chuck like a son. And now my son proudly wears on his belt buckle a shamrock and the saying, "Proud to be Irish".

For an interesting article on the real St. Patrick click here.