Top 'O the Morning to Ye!
I really really love St. Paddy's Day. For one, Dave's family is of Irish descent. And for two, it's just a fun day. No pressure to exchange gifts. Opportunities to pinch mean people and then say, "Oh, I thought you didn't have any green on." Green treats. Gold coins. Gnomes. Leprechauns. And even an Irish-themed dinner (for us, Corned Beef and Cabbage--is there corn in that? Ech.).
Anyhow, I have always had great memories of St. Paddy's Day. Here are two of the funniest ones:
1. Dave's dad dressing up as a leprehaun--in green tights, shorts, jacket--and then handing out gold coins the whole day long. And I mean whole day. One year I went to a Jazzercise class with his wife and he showed up there. There's just something hilarious about having your father-in-law hand out gold coins while you jazzercise with friends.
2. Esther Boyer reading my "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt--and then LITERALLY kissing me on the lips in the McDonald's playland.
Yup. For real.
Here's the DL. Dave and I had just moved into a new ward (congregation) and a group of moms from the ward invited me to a big McDonald's playdate on St. Paddy's Day. I really knew no one in the area, so I was pretty excited to have been invited. And, the moms were all super nice. Bonus. Anyway, one of the women, Esther, was the president of the young women's group for church. As a result, she had a pretty "teenager" attitude toward life. I later learned that she loved to play pranks, etc. SO . . . when one of the moms dared Esther to kiss me--she did just that.
I don't know that I've ever been more shocked in my life.
I really was speechless.
Realizing that I was truly not making the connection to the shirt, Esther said, "YOUR SHIRT--why did you wear it if you didn't want a kiss?"
My reply, "Uh, because it was $5.00 Target. That's why I wore it."
She thought that was so funny. She couldn't catch her breath--she was laughing that hard (as were most of the moms at the PlayLand).
For some reason, at the time, it wasn't as funny to me.
But now, 7 years later, I look back on that day and laugh . . . a lot. Who does that kind of thing? Someone with a BIG funny bone.
(PS: When we moved back to Utah, I wrapped the shirt and gave it to Esther as a gift. LOL!)