A Nod to Green

Another spring snowstorm hit and left

about ten to twelve glorious inches to

blanket the ground.  We celebrate the

wearing of the green this St. Patrick’s Day.

And, yes, corned beef and cabbage.  The

Irish side of my family with Mooney, Ryan,

and Connor probably celebrated the day

with food and storytelling.  My Dad did a

family genealogy of the Niemczura side

which he claimed was Polish even though

Poland was not on the map for about

one hundred years.  My husband and I

muse that our European ancestors must

have known one another since our family

histories converge geographically.  My

German colleagues during my first

Fulbright year were convinced I had

German ancestry.  I think more Austrian.

I found more fascinating the meaning

of my last name: the German girl.

My Polish grandmother used to walk

over the border to work in Germany

before coming to this country.  Thus

our family story and history went.

One of my sisters traced the Irish side

of our family.  A favorite pastime is to

peruse old family photos and look

at hair and fashion styles.  Apparently, I

had an Aunt Julia who was a teacher.  I

inherited her pocket watch.  Female

teachers were not permitted to marry;

otherwise, they had to leave teaching.

Fortunately, that was not the case during

my teaching career.  I glanced today

at some of the documents in the family.

A story for another time is how our

marriage certificate reflected the

wrong date.  We were married before

we were born it seems!  It is now

corrected for future generations.

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