You know what I've never done? You want to know, in all of my years of life I have never done, I have never celebrated St. Patrick's Day. Never wore green, as a matter of fact, I absolutely refuse to wear a group, and I never went to a bar to get poop-faced drunk on that day.
Let's talk about it. All my life, all my life, all I've ever heard about was my failure to be born a day after—well, my failure to not be born on St. Patrick's Day. I heard this from my father's friends and my father.
I was born the day after St. Patrick's Day, and all I ever, ever, ever heard was, well, why couldn't you come out on St. Patrick's Day? Like I had a choice.
Like I had a choice. I showed up at 2.20 in the morning on March 18th, so I guess I tried, because I guess mom went into labor sometime on the 17th, but you know, nature's way, man, it just didn't happen. Ever since and hearing this all through my youth, I just—and I remember on St. Patrick's Day, my father was saying to me, you know what I was saying, okay, you gotta wear something green to school today.
Hell, no, I don't. As a matter of fact, I said, no, I'm not going to do it. I will wear green any other day, but I'm not going to wear green on that day, because I did not go to Catholic school. And they would say, oh, look, it's his birthday today, or it's the day before his birthday.
He couldn't be born on St. Patrick's Day. You know, I went to Catholic school, and the nuns, Sister Borgian, darn it. But anyway, the luck we don't notice—most of us talk about the luck of the Irish, but the real luck that we have is everyday stuff.
We forget to appreciate good health, friends who answer the phone. And you know, and for some of us as we become, you know, our more advanced years, we wake up in the morning and we look out the window and there's the world wandering around. You know, I remember the John Lennon song, I'm just sitting here watching the world go round and round. Yeah, I like to do that.
I like to wake up, walk outside, and watch the world go around and round. That's luck. Gratitude is a habit. It's not a damn holiday.
Okay? St. Patrick's Day comes once a year, but you know something, being grateful happens every damn day. So, let's just get with it and celebrate every day.
Every day I wake up, I'm happy. I remember my late brother saying to me, I'd call him up and say, how are you doing? He goes, hey, I woke up. We laugh.
And, you know, that was just great. That was just absolutely fabulous. I miss that. I miss that a lot.
Ah, I'll tell you what I like. I like Irish music. So, I will go with that. The chorus.
I'll listen to the chorus any day to week as a matter of fact, before I did the podcast today, I sat down, put these wonderful headphones I have on. And I listened to the chorus, tail and feathers, which is an instrumental that they do. And oh my God, it just puts me in such a good mood. And I'm not allowed to play it on the damn podcast.
Why can I play that on the podcast? I'd get in trouble. Otherwise, I would. You know?
Damn, ASCAP. But anyway, it's a day, you know, that we're supposed to celebrate our roots and be thankful for the stories, for the folks that came before us. I think, you know, other than my mother, who was the queen, the best person in the entire world, you know, the people that came before us, I had three uncles, four uncles, I'm sorry, one uncle that I never met, Uncle Darrell, never met him, never met him. He was a war hero, I guess, but also, as I understand it, was a drunk and nine of a hard Jack walking up the courtroom's stairs in Winamack, Indiana, the town that all of them came from.
They weren't born there, but they came from there. They live there in their youth. And then after Uncle George, or after him, I think it was my brother, or my his brother, my father. And then there was my Uncle Dick, and then there was my Uncle George.
Uncle George, magical, coolest guy in the world, coolest damn guy in the world. So what can I say? Uncle Dick, nice guy. He liked gardening.
And you know what? I didn't know that until after he died. And he died at a young age. He died at 61.
By the way, Uncle Darrell was in his 30s when he died. And then I have Aunt Vivian, who didn't die until she was in her 90s. Aunt Vivian went to Winamack, Indiana, and put new gravestones on my grandparents' graves. Now, my Uncle George told me that my grandfather was not a nice person.
And he did not have much nice to say about him. And my father wouldn't talk about him. So that's what I remember about that. Oh well.
But on this day, we can also, I guess, in any day, toast all the people that are around us. I live with my son and his girlfriend. Cool people. I'm so grateful that they're here.
You know, I am. I am so lucky that they live with me. I like that. I like that a lot.
I talked with my son Kyle today. He's in New Jersey. Had a wonderful conversation. And the day after tomorrow?
No, tomorrow. The day after tomorrow. Tomorrow. I'm sorry.
I'm confused. Tomorrow. My oldest son Tyler is coming over to eat with us. So how cool is that?
And I forgot what we're eating. Oh, we're having potato turbate. Yes. My favorite.
And then my favorite kind of cake, which is yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Oh, it's going to be good. Except Tyler hates chocolate. But you know what?
He's going to have to get over it because it's my birthday. It's not his. So anyway, I hope you're having a good Saint Patrick's day if that's important for you. If you're wearing green, good for you.
I'm not. And if you're going to go out and get smashed tonight, make sure you take an Uber home or you have a designated driver or better yet. Just as Nancy Reagan would say, just say no to booze. Yeah, that would have been good advice for my dad.
Oh, well, have a wonderful day. I'll talk to you soon.