My father died when I was six and my mother did her best to make sure we had as little to do with my father’s family as possible. My father’s brother was his best friend and he wanted to help bring me up, but I wasn’t allowed to see him. Everything in my mom’s family concerned being Mayflower descendants.
At the same time I would go with friends to the Irish Clubs in Syracuse and I’d love singing about “Molly Malone” and “I’ll take you back Kathleen.” I would have given anything to feel equal to all my Irish friends.
One day I recently swabbed my mouth and sent it in to a DNA testing service. I was on pins and needles waiting for the results. It turns out I was 26 percent Irish. Not only that but my father’s family told me my great grandmother was born in the Emerald Isle. If I wanted I could go and drink some Bushmills and Guinness at the Rose of Killarney or the Syracuse bar on Tipperary Hill where the Green light is on the top of the traffic light. I can also leave this world understanding why those songs bring tears to my eyes.
At the same time I would go with friends to the Irish Clubs in Syracuse and I’d love singing about “Molly Malone” and “I’ll take you back Kathleen.” I would have given anything to feel equal to all my Irish friends.
One day I recently swabbed my mouth and sent it in to a DNA testing service. I was on pins and needles waiting for the results. It turns out I was 26 percent Irish. Not only that but my father’s family told me my great grandmother was born in the Emerald Isle. If I wanted I could go and drink some Bushmills and Guinness at the Rose of Killarney or the Syracuse bar on Tipperary Hill where the Green light is on the top of the traffic light. I can also leave this world understanding why those songs bring tears to my eyes.
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