Éirinn go brách! Happy St. Patrick's Day from Elgin!!!

It's been a busy weekend for us as my daughter was Confirmed yesterday (one year early as there were not enough 8th graders in our church's CCD program). If that wasn't enough, she had a dance competition early that morning (her group dance was moved up so that we could go to Confirmation) that meant we had to arrive in Elgin, a town about 30 miles away from home, at 6:00 AM. As soon as she finished her one dance, it was off to Chicago for Mass. Once Mass was done, and we had a little reception, it was back to Elgin for the remainder of the evening's competition, with my daughter on stage for two more dances. The whole thing, with the hour-long award ceremony, ended roughly just before midnight. We made it home at 1:00 AM.

And guess what...WE HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN!!! She has to be back at the competition for a 5:00 pm act, but the Dance Company insisted that all the kids arrive by NOON. Most of these kids are only going to be on once, five hours after the call time. So what is my family going to do? Go to church, and meet the rest of the troupe at 3.

Go team!!!

Okay, rant over. It's St. Patrick's Day.

Today is St. Patrick's Day. It is the day that honors St. Patrick, who is the patron saint of Ireland. It also commemorates the arrival of Christianity to the Emerald Isle. In fact, it is said (thanks Wikipedia) that he used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity.

The Chicago River will be dyed a nice green this year. And it is said that they do a fantastic job of it as it pretty much stays that color for the rest of the year. My family enjoyed the corned beef dinner on Thursday night and unless we find a restaurant serving it, we won't be having it tonight. We'll probably stop by a sushi restaurant before the show...nothing says Happy St. Pat's like a platter of sushi.


If anybody says, "Top of the morning to you," to you today, make sure to respond in kind, "And the rest of the day to yourself."

Public Service Announcement: As we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, please remember to celebrate responsibly.




Now for the baseball portion of the program. If you're wondering, while there are many players of Irish descent in both the Major Leagues and the Minor Leagues, the last native born Irish player was Joe Cleary. Born in County Cork, Cleary only appeared in one game (08/04/1945) in 0.1 inning of work for the Washington Senators. But in that eventful inning, he struck out one batter (the good news), but allowed five hits, three walks, and seven earned runs to score. Saving time for the math, but seven runs in 1/3 innings equals an ERA of 189.

So now, a quick toast...

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be at your back.
May your cards collections grow to unmeasurable heights in both volume and value.
May the quest for new cards be swift.
May the journey of life treat you well today and always.
And may a certain North Side baseball team win it all this year.
If you catch my drift.

Sláinte!

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama