“Top O’ The Morning To Ya!”

Oh yes, were she alive today, that’s what my Mom would be saying to everyone.  You see, today, March 17th, is her birthday; she would have been 92.  She was only half-Irish but that didn’t stop her from making St. Patrick’s Day her own personal holiday.

Mother had her own personal remedy for when she didn’t feel so hot, as she always put it; whether a cold or stomach upset, she always reached for some Creme De Menthe that she kept tucked away…you know, for medicinal purposes.
                                        

Mary Patricia (her real name even though she hated the name Mary) could be a fairly intolerant person when something didn’t suit her or jump to her tune.  She loved my three children, her only Grandkids, but always went out of her way to comment on our middle daughter, Jill, calling her “The Green-Eyed Dragon” whenever Jill dug her heels in and refused to do what she was told.

So, in honor of my late mother’s birthday, I offer you a special cocktail; one that I’m sure Mary Patricia would have loved sipping…just for those medicinal purposes, of course!

                         

           Cha deoch-slàint, i gun a tràghadh.
                            (It’s no health if the glass is not emptied.)

Awoke very early this morning, grabbed some coffee and sat down at my computer; my first stop was to my blog page where a new post from Ashley..plus 3 quickly caught my eye;  when I read it, well, it broke my heart.

Ashley tells of this precious little girl, named Maddie,  who is dying from an inoperable brain tumor.  If you can support this family, with a donation or in their quest to have Maddie go on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, please do so.

                                                                        

I’m putting up the link to Ashley’s page with the hope that anyone stopping by my blog will head there and do whatever they can.
                                              http://www.ashleyplus3.com/2011/03/please-help.html

After visiting my fav bloggers, I clicked on the news of the day and sat in horror as I read about the earthquake and resulting tsunami hitting Japan, heading for the Hawaiian Islands, towards the states and beyond.  I’ll admit to not being a deeply religious person, what reverence I hold for God is kept deep inside but this morning was different.  I asked Him, out loud, to help all of these hurting, devastated beings and restore some element of calm, of peace, in their lives.

I’m always the first one to preach that God never gives any of us more than we can handle, especially when I relate this old story about a woman who complained to Him that the cross she carried in life was much too heavy of a burden.  God had her stand next to Him and made all the crosses of the world pass her by, one by one, telling her to pick out the one she wanted.  Finally, she picked out the smallest cross in the line; God looked over and said, “That was the cross you have been carrying all along.”

This is probably about as spiritual of a post that you will ever see from me but it was something I felt worth sharing.

Excuse me, God?  There are so many who desperately need your Divine Intervention, when you aren’t too busy…please!