Happy March

March is one of my favorite months.

In like a lion, out like a lamb – the weather is always wild and unpredictable. Softball practice starts but is often snowed out; tulips and crocuses pop up and then get snowed on. Clocks change. Everything seems a little wonky until we all adjust.

And it's Women's History Month, during which time I always learn something about the many women who came before me and who helped shape the world as we know it. Not to mention the ones who are making history today in continuing to shape the world into a better place for all.

But before I recognized all that, I thought March was the month that we are all Irish and any excuse to celebrate was a good excuse. I can mostly thank my grandma for that – Josephine Larimer nee O'Neill, whose birthday was on March 17 (which is also recognized as St. Patrick's Day), knew how to stretch a celebration out longer than most.

She also loved to turn a phrase, which is a grand ol' Irish tradition, and she taught me many Irish blessings (and quite a few Irish jokes). Thanks to her and the Irish people's continued and unwavering reverence for words both spoken and written, Irish stories and jokes, as well as the blessings, may be padded with a fair amount of blarney, but that's what makes them fun.

I still love to pull out my favorites and share them with everyone this time of year. To whit:

May those who love us love us. And for those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts. And if He cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so we may know them by their limping.

May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out.

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

Let's all put on our dancing shoes and wear our shamrocks green; and toast our friend both here and there and everywhere in between.

Here's to the bull that roams through the wood, and does all the heifers so very much good; for if it was nay for him and his rod, there'd be none of us here could eat steak, by God.

May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need most; may the most you wish for be the least you get; and may the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight.

May the grass grow long on the road to hell for want of use.

May you always be blessed with walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, a warm cup of tea by the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all that your heart might desire.

May your troubles be as few and far between as my grandmother's teeth.

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and the road downhill all the way to your door.

May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.

Here's to me and thee; and if we ever disagree, here's to me!

And finally: "May the luck of the Irish Lead to happiest heights And the highway you travel Be lined with green lights. Wherever you go and whatever you do, May the luck of the Irish be there with you."

Happy St. Pat's Day! And Happy March!

© Marilda Mel White. Mel is a local photographer and writer; she's 100 per cent Irish on March 17 and about 50 percent on other March days (and about 10 percent the other days of the year). She welcomes your comments at [email protected].