Merry Christmas MT Cranium

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

For the poster who asked and anyone else who wondered, born in Birmingham (UK) with name you know (Peter O'Donnell) from mother, forms don't indicate father's name, hence can assume some if not full Irish background, gained the other name some may know (Roger Smith) through adoption and those folks decided to emigrate to Canada when I was a wee lad, so have lived most of my life in Canada, but always with some Irish connections. My best friend in high school had Irish-born parents who also emigrated to Canada a few years before my parents, and since my (adoptive) parents both passed away rather young, I spent a lot of time with that family in my late teenage and early adult years, so almost an Irish upbringing pasted onto the other layers (these people were not making it up about being resolutely Irish as I discovered when I visited Ireland in 1978).

Due to my rather independent existence here (a polite way to describe my virtual blacklisting from Canadian weather circles, wonder why eh?) I have considered myself as somewhat of a stateless person throughout my adult life, and not that keen on replacing the missing Canadian identity with either of the more obvious choices in practical terms, American or British, but this past few years of really connecting with Irish people (never mind the weather, that's really just collateral damage) has opened a door in my mind about what if any national identity I might really have in the spiritual side of life. However, practical considerations will probably conspire to keep me living on this side of the Atlantic (this side of the Pacific more accurately) but if fate were kind and I became wealthy (currently in a very average sort of financial situation, can't complain) I would very likely spend part of my time in Ireland on a regular basis. And that would be the part where the sun was shining, cuz for November to March, that's why God created Arizona and Utah.