St. Paddy's Day in the Tropics

So today is the sort of Irish holiday St. Patrick's day. Since I grew up in working class Long Island, and three of my best friends were named Monahan, Fitzgerald, and Nixon (Irish Catholic, not a WASP like the Prez), I always was invited along to celebrate the holiday -- at least the drinking part. In college and law school it was a great excuse to drink more than usual, as if we needed an excuse. I remember on St. Paddy's Day in law school, going to Bananas, which used to be in the same building as the now shuttered Coconut Grove Theatre, and drinking daquiris -- not very Celtic, but still a great afternoon. Our neighbor is a very feisty 95 year old lady named Bobbe Dooley. Several years back she had a fine St. Paddy's Day party -- top shelf Irish whiskey, and unlimited Guiness, poured by a skilled bartender. It was a fine time. My most memorable day was one I spent in NYC -- probably 15 years ago. I was there for a deposition, and stayed in the Plaza Hotel on 5th Avenue. The depo ended early, and I made it back to the hotel to watch the parade. I was truly shocked by how many NYC Firemen and Cops there were -- all represented by a miles long procession down the avenue. The only problem was that, after a few hours, I grew to HATE the sound of bagpipes. I knew right away Oscar Wilde's line was true: the bagpipes were a practical joke the Scottish played on the Irish, which the Irish never got. I followed one group of revelers into a bar off of Times Square, and learned that there were firemen bars and cop bars, and never the twain shall meet. I made fast friends, and talked about baseball and football, and Miami and New York. It was an awesome day. Last year I learned a fun fact, the supposedly Irish dish of corned beef and cabbage isn't Irish at all -- no one in the old sod eats it. Rather, it's a tradition started by Irish Americans, who borrowed the corned beef part from their fellow immigrants -- the Jews -- but combined the meat with cabbage instead of rye bread. Tonight Wifey and I have plans to go out with our friends Diane and John. Diane is always tons of fun, but, alas, not Irish. Her ancestry is Dutch. But John is the real deal -- Boston Irish working class -- he may even be a Southie. He went to an Ivy League college, and then had a great career in construction management. Now semi retired, he works for a great family of highest level contractors -- also Irish -- who still get the cherry jobs in Miami, typically a Cuban contractor sort of place. And though John is a rich fellow, he still has that great self deprecation and humility I remember from my LI friends. And, like me, he enjoys tossing a few back and laughing a lot. We're going to a new place that just opened in a park in Coconut Grove. Maybe afterwards we'll walk among the revelers -- it's a treat in Miami to see the scantily dressed Latinas all walking around in green... Yes, Erin go bragh...we're out soon to hoist a few and be happy.