All praise to Patrick!
This has been the first thing to come to mind for as long as I can remember. Each year singing in church ... "All praise to St. Patrick, who brought to this country the gift of God's grace and sweet light of His love." What fun to wear the green and all. Then as life happens things occurred to cause me to forget all about St. Patrick on the 17th of March. For a while the mention of the day created in me a melancholy.
You see, in the 1980's my mother died and was buried on St. Patty's day, but Mom had enjoyed the day and so it seemed all right. Two years later, my mother-in-law died, also to be buried on the 17th of March. This is when my tears finally came for my Mom as I stood next to Mike W. looking at Hyacinthia and said, "It seems like I just did this." Buckets of tears fell and poor Mike stood right there and held me. Two years later, my sister, Phyllis, passed at the age of 51, from leukemia. And she was buried on the 16th of March, the day before the anniversary of the funeral of Ann, Hyacinthia, and St Patrick's Day. So for years I sulked and missed then all.
Something was new this year. As I thought of my family, I realised that it was they who were alive and I ... I was the dead one. I could hear the song in my head and in my mind's eye I saw them all singing and smiling and dancing a jig with Himself, St. Patrick. I can't wait to get there and share their joy. "All praise to St. Patrick, who brought to this country the gift of God's faith and sweet light of His love. .da..dum..di-di... dum-dum...."
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1 comment:
Oh Liz, how beautiful an essay that was, bringing tears to my eyes. I too have always been partly in love with St. Patrick, love to wear green, etc. But it was spoiled for me when my mother died on March 16, 2002. Now I think of them (parents) up in heaven and long to be with them and all my ancestors, those especially from Ireland and Germany.
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