March 17, 2020
Today marks the most unconventional St. Patrick's Day I hope to ever see within my lifetime. As someone who has grown up and continues to grow in a very big, very proud Irish-American family, St. Patrick's Day has always meant a lot to me. This year it represents something much bigger than it has before. It represents coming together, without physically coming together.
I want to reflect on my family today, March 17, 2020, on this rainy, scary, eerily quiet, quarantined St. Patrick's Day. For days my body has felt tense in the midst of unclear knowledge and expectations of what is to come. Within the fear and the uncomfortable lack in answers to the many, many questions that race within my mind, I have realized the things that are the most important to me. Number one being, as it always has been, my family.
Let me repeat it, my family is very big, very proud, and VERY Irish. Growing up my Dad often played the Irish radio station on long car rides and I felt as though my ears could bleed. But little did I know I would grow up to love it just as much as he did. While spending 4 months living in Ireland, I played the most Irish feeling jigs and reels that filled my heart up with what truly felt like home. I'm thankful now for the music that can make me feel so light and bring me back to such familiar moments.
I know that people are afraid, I know that this seems so irrelevant to what is going on with the world right now, but isn't that the point? Music has always been something that took my mind on trips around the world and let me travel back in time to before I even existed. The same goes for dancing. I remember a particular night when my Aunt's decided we would move all the furniture, throw Irish reels on a loop, and everyone was to participate in Irish set dancing. It was the first time in what felt like too long that I felt a beautiful memory forming for all of us. We were filled with laughter as our apprehension drifted away and we let ourselves fully commit to the dancing.
So on these days when I feel lonely, bored, and stir crazy, I have to remember the small moments that I will soon be making into memories again. There is always music, dancing, and memories to fill these days. Put on an Irish jig, pour yourself a pint (or two...or three...), maybe dance around the room for a little while, don't take yourself so seriously.
Remember the happy days as they were, and the many more that are to come. This is the time to tell stories and to reflect. Let's consume ourselves in the real important things in life, rather than letting what we cannot control consume us. Be safe, we are not alone, let the little things bring us together again.
I want to reflect on my family today, March 17, 2020, on this rainy, scary, eerily quiet, quarantined St. Patrick's Day. For days my body has felt tense in the midst of unclear knowledge and expectations of what is to come. Within the fear and the uncomfortable lack in answers to the many, many questions that race within my mind, I have realized the things that are the most important to me. Number one being, as it always has been, my family.
Let me repeat it, my family is very big, very proud, and VERY Irish. Growing up my Dad often played the Irish radio station on long car rides and I felt as though my ears could bleed. But little did I know I would grow up to love it just as much as he did. While spending 4 months living in Ireland, I played the most Irish feeling jigs and reels that filled my heart up with what truly felt like home. I'm thankful now for the music that can make me feel so light and bring me back to such familiar moments.
I know that people are afraid, I know that this seems so irrelevant to what is going on with the world right now, but isn't that the point? Music has always been something that took my mind on trips around the world and let me travel back in time to before I even existed. The same goes for dancing. I remember a particular night when my Aunt's decided we would move all the furniture, throw Irish reels on a loop, and everyone was to participate in Irish set dancing. It was the first time in what felt like too long that I felt a beautiful memory forming for all of us. We were filled with laughter as our apprehension drifted away and we let ourselves fully commit to the dancing.
So on these days when I feel lonely, bored, and stir crazy, I have to remember the small moments that I will soon be making into memories again. There is always music, dancing, and memories to fill these days. Put on an Irish jig, pour yourself a pint (or two...or three...), maybe dance around the room for a little while, don't take yourself so seriously.
Remember the happy days as they were, and the many more that are to come. This is the time to tell stories and to reflect. Let's consume ourselves in the real important things in life, rather than letting what we cannot control consume us. Be safe, we are not alone, let the little things bring us together again.
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