saint patrick's day :)

I haven't been to school on Saint Patrick's Day since the third grade. If I remember correctly, my teacher wore a green tie and all the boys wore Celtics shirts and there were shamrock cookies at lunch.

Instead, on Saint Patrick's Day, I get up, snag a curly redheaded wig onto my scalp, put on seven layers of makeup, run around collecting various items such as duct tape, safety pins, shoe polish, scissors, pencils, bobby pins and sock glue (sock glue: adhesive used to stick socks to skin). Then I go to my old elementary school, show off some old Irish artifacts that beloged to my grandparents, dance a little bit and try to convince third graders that I'm not a total freak for loving Irish dance.

I've been an Irish dancer for five years now. It's insane and demanding and addicting and strange. We glue socks to our shins and invent new ways to use duct tape and abuse our toes and feet something fierce. We have our own subculture. Irish dance is not stomping around and babbling about Lucky Charms. It is both a sport (yes, it is a sport and I will fight you on it) and a celebration of culture.

I certainly have a lot of Irish culture to celebrate. One of my great-grandfathers was a member of the original IRA and imprisoned for three years for fighting for the country and the cause he loved so much. One of my great-grandmothers came over on the boat via Ellis Island in 1916 and kept the tradition of Irish superstition alive by reading tea leaves, recording dreams and crossing herself whenever she saw a black bird. My grandfather's first language was Gaelic, as he grew up in a very rural village along the northern coast of Ireland. My other grandfather grew up in the projects of South Boston--a neighborhood known for its diehard Irish Catholics. 

I have always been taught that I should be extremely proud of my heritage, because there is nobody quite like the Irish. Saint Patrick's Day gives me a chance to appreciate that, and to share my quirky little talent with others (even if the nursing homes smell really bad). I really love Irish dance, and I love my relatives and I love Saint Patrick's Day.

I also love this song by John Mayer.

So yeah, I'm a redhead. And yup, I'm insanely pale. And yeah, the majority of my classmates think I'm a loser for loving Irish flute music and curly wigs and the whole subculture of Irish dance.

But I honestly wouldn't have it any other way, becaue I wouldn't love Saint Patrick's Day half as much as I do.