M1

St. Patrick’s Day in my family is usually not that big of a deal in my. Although I do have a significant amount of Irish in my family, we usually don’t get that caught up in all of the festivities that come with this holiday.  The most we usually do in my family is having a nice corned beef and cabbage meal, which is one of my personal favorites.  But besides that, we don’t do anything else significant. However, my family does have one tradition that is unique from most families.  Each Easter and Thanksgiving, my family makes its way out to Grand Island to my grandpa’s house on my dad’s side of the family. But unlike most families, our first line of duty is not to see how everyone’s doing and eat, but rather to work.  We usually arrive around 11am which thankfully is later than my uncles family arrives, so a good chunk of the work is usually done.  As a generous grandson, I have absolutely no problem helping my grandfather get a little work done around the house, and am always extremely willing to help out as much as I can. However, it is the type of work that I am put to that really makes me scratch my head sometimes. My cousin’s siblings and I usually spend most of our time stacking wood or putting away lawn furniture in the fall, or getting it out in the spring at Easter time. This may not seem like demanding or frustrating work at a glance, but the thing with my grandpa that can be frustrating is that he likes things to be done his way or no way.  So if the flower box is put an inch too far to the left, and I am not exaggerating, it will be moved that microscopic inch back to the right. Or for instance, if one piece of wood doesn’t fit the “right” way with another on the wood pile, the entire thing will be taken down and redone. However, after all of this “trial and error” work is finally done, we all enjoy a nice normal family dinner.