The last couple of hours here at the kitchen table, I’ve been trying to straighten up my calendar for the months of February and March. I always look forward to turning the page and seeing a “clean slate,” but that’s not what awaits me for February 2023. Tomorrow is February 1st, and the entire month is already a hot mess of scribbles and even some white-out. It’s all good stuff, but seriously – YIKES!
Getting my St. Patrick’s Day events on the calendar and looking forward to seeing faces from the Irish crowd I don’t get to see as often as I’d like to, I sat back and remembered this time of year growing up. I have some really, really fond memories! And then I started to laugh remembering those good old days when my boys were young – the same time of year. I hope they cherish them as much as I do.
And now I’m going to tell you a little secret about growing up in an Irish home that I’d be willing to bet you didn’t know – that is, unless you’re Irish.
You see, if you’re lucky enough to be Irish…
The leprechauns will make their home in the flower beds that surround and landscape your house. I don’t know how it is that they know who is Irish, or who is Polish, or Italian, but it has been my experience (and that of every Irish person I know), that they only seem to make their homes in the flower beds of fellow Irish people. And it’s there that they hide their great big pots of shiny gold.
And late into the night when we’re all fast asleep, those wee little leprechauns must move those pots of gold so that no one finds them. That’s right – those pots of gold get moved every single night!
I’ve been told that it takes three or four of the little fellas to pick up those pots overflowing with coins, and move them from one location to the next, frequently under bushes or hiding in between flower beds. My kids and I were never fortunate enough to have gotten a glimpse of the leprechauns or their pots of gold, but Rory and Ian often found the evidence of their middle-of-the-night shenanigans and moving their pots of gold, when they would collect the shiny coins that had spilled from the pots as they moved them from place to place. Oh, what a grand time they had !!
We would frequently spot Anthony, the poor little guy next door, looking through the flower beds in front of his own house for evidence of leprechauns, but unfortunately, he never even found a penny. He wasn’t Irish, you see. The poor little guy.
Rory and Ian would collect the coins they found, and save them for our next adventurous vacation. I have recently moved in the past couple of years, but have already seen evidence that the leprechauns followed me to my new home, and often find shiny coins in my front yard near the porch. I can’t wait to show the grandkids!
If you’re Irish, have a peek in your bushes tomorrow morning and see what surprises await you, and if you’re not, I’m sorry. If you’re a grandparent, have some fun throwing your spare change in the flower beds at the homes of your grandchildren.
Wouldn’t our lives just be so boring, had God not given us our imaginations? Go have fun with yours!
Happiest of St. Patrick’s Days to ya! Here’s hoping we all get to get a little glimpse of a leprechaun this year!
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