St. Paddy's Day

St. Paddy’s Day 2003: First year of college, threw a ten person party in a two-person room and ended up with five more people when we were all busted for underage alcohol possession. Last notable event before security came in was a 4’9” sophomore girl from Kentucky standing on top of my roommate’s mini-fridge ordering us all around and swearing to beat a sailor.

St. Paddy’s Day 2004: I don’t remember what went down but I heard it was a blast.

St. Paddy’s Day 2005: My sister, a great friend and I went up to Duluth to celebrate our best friend’s birthday. There were Irish car bombs aplenty, singing with all our heart and not a tune, and a little howling at the moon. It was pretty sweet!

St. Paddy’s Day 2006: My two good friends and I went to Bullwinkle’s to celebrate the changes and challenges that graduation from college would bring. Some PBR’s and a few bets, which we left tacked to the ceiling, as well as each other were all we needed for that St. Paddy’s Day.

St. Paddy’s Day 2007: I was in Texas and attending Flight School. I studied and prepped all day for upcoming flights and simulator rides in the week ahead. Not even one Guinness was cracked by me that day.

St. Paddy’s Day 2008: I am in Arkansas now. The majority of my day was spent at my new job. The last few hours of daylight were spent with my year-and-half old son, Boyd. We hiked together to the quarry behind our house, sat along the side with our feet dangling off the rocky face. We threw rocks into the cold grey water in a vain attempt to fill up the football-field size crater. We walked back home, ate some diner, gave Boydie a bath and put the little man to bed.

All in all, not a bad St. Paddy’s Day. It was certainly not as wild as some of the past ones but is nonetheless just as memorable (if not more so than a few others). I talked to my good friend who was with me for more than a few of the above celebrations and he was washing dishes at the time of our talk. He had worked all day and was getting ready for a full week of construction and labor.

When I was finished talking to him, I hung up and pondered life for a minute. A smile came to my face as I thought, “My, have the times changed. What will the next St. Patrick’s Day be like?”

Contributed by Paul.