Top o' the (still) Mornin'! I didn't get much sleep but I feel rested for the moment. That will probably vanish in a few minutes and I'll go back to bed.
Top(ic) o' the Day: My favorite St. Patrick's Day was about 20 years ago. One of my best friends was a runner and I was a very sporadic jogger. Murphy's, an Atlanta instituiton with Irish roots, was sponsoring a 5K. I figured I could do that, even if I ended up walking at the end. We ran through lovely neighborhoods in Virginia-Highlands. I made really great time (for me) and was proud to have made it through without having to walk. (It was very hilly terrain.)
Another runner there was a friend of my girlfriend, (a redhead named Siobhan---how Irish is THAT!) and he invited us over to cook brunch for us. We had broccoli diced up into scrambled eggs, making them kind of green and St. Patrick-y. But the memorable brunch ingredient was the friend he had invited who had also just run the race.
The first guy had been interested in dating my friend, but since she wasn't interested in anything more than friendship with him, he invited his friend---Sean Kelly (how Irish is THAT!) whom he thought might be someone she would like.
The four of us went out boulder scrambling...they loaned me a pair of those sticky rock climbing shoes, but I didn't really see the appeal. But I did enjoy watching the immediate chemistry these two had and felt that history was in the making.
That night, I had gotten tickets for us to go to see one of my favorite Irish bands, Patrick Street, with Kevin Burke--my favorite Irish musician. We had gone together to see them many times in the past. Sean joined us, (it turned out he was a musician who used to play in a band with some friends of mine from high school) and it was a terrific concert.
Afterwards, I introduced my two friends to Kevin. "This is my friend Siobhan and her future husband, Sean". They both looked at me like I was insane.
A few years later, I was her Maid of Honor at a beautiful wedding under the Wyoming skies with the Wind River Mountains in the background. (Both being outdoorsy types, they had moved there the year before.)
I am happy to have been there when the sparks flew! A Happy St. Patrick's Day, indeed!