March is now upon us and Saint Patrick's Day is coming up next week. For some, that means hitting up the bar for happy hour and seeing who can down the most Jameson shots. But for me, it's not like that at all. Saint Patrick's Day is a day to reflect on my Irish heritage and the hardships my family faced to get to where we are today. There is more to being Irish than chasing after leprechauns to steal their gold or drinking heavily.
As a child, I spent most of my time with my Irish grandparents who immigrated here in the 20th century. They, along with my mom, introduced me to our culture through songs, food, and stories about our ancestors. Not once did they convey that our family was founded on Guinness. I know that there are a lot of pubs in Ireland but there's also the Blarney Stone, and Saint Patrick's Cathedral, which is located across the hill from where my grandmother was raised. She grew up on a farm with her eight siblings (six of them were brothers). They did not have electricity or sewage and had to make all their food from scratch, including slaughtering their own meat. To get to the United States she sat in the bottom of a boat in conditions similar to the Titanic. She later battled physical ailments and passed away in 2012 but not until after raising my mom, uncle, late uncles, and her grandchildren such as myself.
My grandfather fought in the Korean War and has been deaf in one ear since then. He has been one of my biggest cheerleaders throughout my entire life. Now he's ninety years old and I am returning the favor to him. Although he and my grandmother ran a bar together when my mom was growing up, they did so to share their love of cooking, not just booze. A lot of what I said sounds like a sob story but my grandparents stayed optimistic throughout everything.
In honor of my family legacy, I have marched in many Saint Patrick's Day parades down Broad Street in Philadelphia. Often times the weather did not cooperate and it was cold and damp. But I didn't care because I was surrounded by others who were celebrating my culture. My Irish heritage is a large part of who I am and I wouldn't change it for the world.
