Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day, my Aunt Helen's favorite holiday.  Aunt Helen was Irish to the core, and I believe her parent's  - or possibly grandparents - immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland.  My Uncle Jack (my mother Mary's brother) and Aunt Helen got married right here in Denver, at Lowry Air Force Base (which still existed when I moved here, but is now an upscale real estate development), just before Uncle Jack was sent overseas during WWII. Helen was a really nice person, as was her sister Mildred, but their sister Gert was something else - the matriarch of the family - and ruled with an iron fist.  She collected all the paychecks from her husband and her children, and controlled their lives to the nth degree. One Christmas Eve, when they all came over to our house in the South Side Chicago neighborhood of Braineerd, we asked where her daughter Madonna was. We were told that Madonna was doing her chores, cleaning the house, and could not come. On Christmas Eve, no less.  When Madonna announced she was going to marry a Protestant, Gert was furious, and everybody from that family was afraid to attend the wedding, except for my Uncle Jack (Jack and Helen are seen in the above diptych, by the way).  Once Madonna had a baby, all was forgiven.  I thought that Gert had finally mellowed, but when I told this story to a friend, he suggested that Gert probably just wanted to make sure the children were raised Catholic.  Makes sense to me.  Hopefully the Irish (by which I mean the Gert types) have changed by now. God willing.