's Motd St. 's Day, 2008 - How Lucky!

[Guest guest]

HOW LUCKY!

Monday, 17 March 2008

I knew all about St. 's Day at a very young age. For one thing, my father was one-third Irish. The other two-thirds, he's French and English. My family used to get up on St. Paddy's Day morning, go out in the streets of the French Quarter and do a little Irish jig for everyone. Oh, we were all so cute too, each of us dressed in different shades of green. Okay, I made that up! (Shirley and Leonard, please forgive me.)

When I started school, the Nuns at my school told us the true meaning of St. 's Day. They told us that the country of Ireland was inhabited by millions of snakes. I'm talking long snakes, short snakes, thin snakes, chubby snakes, black snakes, red snakes, well, you get the snaky picture. There were a lot of snakes in Ireland. Why, there were more snakes in that country than there were in the movie, Snakes On A Plane!Anyway, the people of Ireland had the luck, (more about that word later), of meeting this Bishop named and his mission was to get rid of all the country's snakes. took his staff into his hands and began to climb up "Snake Mountain." The peak of the mountain overlooked the Irish Sea. As reached the peak of the mountain, all of the snakes had followed him there. then turned around, waved his staff over the snakes and those creepy little critters all leaped into the sea and drowned! The big snakes leapt into the sea, followed by the small snakes, the green ones and soon, all of the snakes were gone!

And, oh! The people of Ireland were so thankful and thrilled that they named the day in honor of and we now have what is called St. 's Day! Now my father, being one-third Irish, told me a different story. He told me a magical story about Leprechauns. He told me that they were these little people with brilliant red hair who wore the cutest little green suits. They also had magical powers!Leprechauns appeared to only very special people and if you were fortunate enough to have one of them appear to you, then you would have the luck of the Irish! And what was the luck of the Irish? Well, it's that big pot of gold waiting at the rainbow's end.Only Leprechauns and the people they appeared to can ride to the rainbow's end and get the gold. Mixed in with the gold coins would be small four leaf clovers and if you press one of them against your heart, you will have good luck forever.Personally, I like my father's story a lot better than the one about all of those snakes! But I had a very important question for my father, "Daddy," I asked him, "What did Leprechaun's eat?" (Hey, you should've known I would have been curious about that!)My father answered, "Dicky, they eat the same things I make for St. 's Day dinner. They have Irish Flour Roll, corned beef, steamed cabbage and black-eyed peas. And if you leave a little out for them to eat, then there's a good chance one of those Leprechauns will appear for you!"But with my being a compulsive eater, hey, I ate everything on my plate and left nothing for the little green ones. (Just my uh, luck, huh?) So, I was never treated to the appearance of one of the little Leprechauns!More than just about any other culture, the Irish really believe in luck. In fact, I think they must have been behind the creation of that breakfast cereal from my youth, Lucky Charms!

A part of me doesn't believe in luck but believes more in destiny. But I'll admit, another part of me believes very much in three sevens in a row! What do you believe? Well, whatever you believe in most, I do hope you find some luck today.Love,