“Top of the morning to you!” (I’ve been told that is an Irish greeting.) In return you say, “And the rest of the day to you!” (I’ll imagine you are saying it to me.) And then, on this particular day, I add, “And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”
I love St. Patrick’s Day. One of the reasons is that I added more joy to my life on this day by giving birth to my fifth daughter, Mariah. Another is that I have green eyes. On March 17th I purposely don’t wear any green so when I get pinched I show people my eyes and pinch them (softly, of course)back. In other words, there is a bit of mischievous leprechaun in me which is another reason I love St. Patrick’s Day. When the children were growing up I served them green foods all day long. Green milk. Green scrambled eggs. Green pancakes. Anything I could make green or that was already green, we ate. I loved listening to them complain, mostly because there was a bit of a chuckle in every complaint.
It isn’t just on St. Pat’s day that the leprechaun comes out in me, though. She's been with me so long I've named her the good Irish name, Síne, (pronounced SHEE-na and corresponds to the English name Jean which is the female equivalent of John). Sine is always in there dancing around in hopes of getting out. My favorite head covering while I was recovering from brain surgery was a black dou rag my daughter Patrea sent me. I also love my jaunty newsboy hat. I don’t think I’ll give either of them up even though I’m starting to appear in public without a head covering. There is something about both of these that encourages Sine to dance and makes me feel a wee bit mischievous in a good, happy sort of way.
So if you see an old lady wearing a dou rag, blame Sine. She's dancing.
Yes, you are a leprechaun, and she hides in the twinkle of your eyes. You've always had a twinkly smile, so I'm not surprised. I too, have a child born on St. Patrick's Day. My son, Michael was born in 1975 and we have all loved his birthday, it is so fun. We have everything green we can, including food coloring in the milk. He is a seminary teacher at Olympus High, whose school colors are green, so his students all procalim it is in honor of his birthday and he has quite the fun with it. I also think leprechauns help us see ordinary things in life a little differently (is that a word?) with an eye on the humorous. So Top of the Day to you, too, and may the day be filled with laughter and fun. xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteCathie Totten
"And the rest of the day to you!" :) I especially like your newsboy hat--it is quite jaunty. :) Hope you enjoyed your day. :)
ReplyDeleteCathy, Those green traditions are fun, aren't they! The day was filled with laughter and fun, so thanks for the wishes!
ReplyDeleteWendi, I don't know what the reply to the reply is, but I guess a simple thank you and good night should do it!
ReplyDeleteI was born in Ireland and I'm not a very good celebrator of St. Patrick's Day. I know, that's bad of me. I really need to improve. My daughter Caitlin Celebrated her 16th birthday on St. Patrick's Day yesterday. She loves having her birthday on that day. Sherrie, I've raised three sons to be very fine adults but this is my first experience of raising a teenage daughter....and we just arrived at a momentous age. You've raised lots of teenage daughters...any good advice?
ReplyDeleteLesley, I'm sure you are doing great. But as you have learned, girls are different. The best advice I have is not to over-react to all their emotional issues. Just listen and love her and keep doing what you are doing!
ReplyDelete