St. Pat's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This used to be one of my favorite holidays. Not in a bad or good way, it's kind of fallen off my radar. Sigh...

When I moved to Chicago, I looked for a good exercise class. To make a long story short, I ended up in an Irish dance class (talk about sweat!). I love Irish dance, and even though I am not a great dancer, I get it - and can do a good light jig and reel.

The girls (women, ladies, etc.) in my class became good friends. My bestest friends. One of them was lead singer in a popular traditional Irish band. At least twice a month, for about five years, our group (core group of 4, usually 5-8 of us) would go to hear the band at bars around Chicago and the band leader (married to my friend, the lead singer) would "ask" us to dance a few jigs and reels during their gig. I have danced at some of the finest Chicago Irish bars!!!!

St. Pat's was huge - obviously. In fact, I usually took half day vacation from work to go to the bar where the band would be performing that night (around 6 pm - midnight) to stake out a table for our group. Usually one or two from the group would meet me there for lunch, and we would drag it out.... Hey, it's a HUGE day here for the Irish bars and getting a table is a BIG DEAL. Don't judge!!! Lots of phone calls throughout the day - "Where's the table?" "I should be there by 3..." "When did so and so get there?"

Of the core 4 of us, we all invited friends. So there could be as little as 10 people in our group or as large as 20. By 5 pm, most everyone would be there - by 7 pm ALL of us would be there! And that's just OUR group. The band played at the same bar/restaurant for three years in a row, another bar/restaurant two years in a row - the place would be PACKED!

I am not a big drinker - maybe two or three beers or ciders from 3-ish till the end of the night, and that was all. It was about being with friends, dancing, hearing music we loved, and the party atmosphere that made everyone happy! With it being St. Pat's, we danced almost every song - cheered by the (drunk) patrons and having a great time!

Then the lead singer and band leader got divorced. The band broke up. Some of us went to a new dance school. Some of the girls I haven't seen since 2007. Some I still talk to. Some I don't. But it was a good 5 years and we had a good time together. 2002-2007 was awesome!

I miss the getting together with the friends whose heritage and love for all things Irish was a blast! But things have changed and time moves on.....

Still, lots of fun times and good memories.... Raising a glass in memory to all my friends and family! Here's to us! Happy St. Patrick's Day!