When Everyone is Irish

I am Irish – really, truly. My maiden name is McGrath, my mother’s maiden name was Bannon of the Massachusetts Bannons. There is a castle in Ireland – the Bannon Castle – and I often kid that whenever a family member travels to the Emerald Coast, they surreptitiously drive by the castle but never stop; the Bannons of old didn’t pay taxes that are now way past due. I don’t know if that tale is true, but who wants to take the chance?

My family never enthusiastically celebrated its Irish heritage, though the East Coast clan very often did. In fact, my mom’s brother traveled several times to Ireland and one of his daughters lives there now.

This is contrary to Mary O’Keefe’s family, which nearly bleeds green.

It was keeping in mind her pride in her Irish origins when I accepted an invitation to join her family in celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday at the Tam O’Shanter restaurant on Los Feliz.

I had never been to the Tam O’Shanter on St. Patrick’s Day and was surprised at how expansive the celebration was. A tent was erected in a portion of the parking lot that housed Irish bands and a couple of bars. Outside was an area that offered food for purchase – of course there was corned beef and cabbage as well as brisket on Kaiser rolls.

The afternoon was full of surprises – the music was fun, the beer and food delicious – but no surprise was greater than the people I met.

I was chatting up a young couple and their friend who were seated outside near the food booth. They mentioned they were from La Crescenta; so am I! Their kids attend Rosemont Middle School; so did mine (albeit several years ago)! Her maiden name is Hedrick; that was the last name of the best man at our wedding (37 years ago)!

Holy cow! Turns out her dad and our best man are one and the same! Talk about a small world.

Not surprising, we spent the next few minutes playing catch up on everyone’s lives over the course of the last 25 years. Turns out her dad and mom still live in the area; I’m excited at the possibility of reconnecting after so many years.

At the end of the night I realized that celebrating your Irish heritage can have unimagined benefits.

  robin goldsworthy