A quick glance at the calendar tells me that “St. Paddy’s Day” is quickly approaching. I have always been fascinated by my Irish heritage. Although I have never been to the “Emerald Isle,” it is certainly one of those “bucket list” items. I would love to learn the part of Ireland in which my ancestors lived and visit there. I might even meet a very distant relative or cousin along the way.
I do love many of the legends originating from Ireland. I think the possibility of leprechauns running about is kind of fun. Another legend is surrounding a promised pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I can speak directly to that. I still remember a particular Saturday when I was helping my dad with some outside work, and a sudden rainstorm popped up. It was one of those rainstorms that only last about 15 or 20 minutes, then the sun pops back out. On that day, when the sun popped back out, a lovely little rainbow formed near the garden where we had been working. The rainbow happened to end right at a pile of trash and yard debris that had been stacked up for burning. I heard my dad say, “Well, I finally found the end of the rainbow and mine is a trash pile.” So much for that “pot o’ gold.”
With St. Paddy’s Day coming up this weekend, for a while, everyone is Irish, so I will leave you with an old Irish blessing:
May the wind always be at your back,
May the road always rise up to meet ye,
May the sun always shine gently upon your face,
And when it comes your time to die,
May ye be in heaven a half hour before the divil knows you’re dead!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from over here on the “Sunny Side.”