This coming Friday is St. Patrick’s Day when everyone claims a little Irish heritage, looks for that leprechaun guarding his pot of gold, and goes about “a wearin’ o’ the green.” Exactly 138 years ago, my great grandmother, Rena Josephine Driver, made her appearance on March 17, 1885. She was proud of an Irish heritage and lived most of her life in the Texas panhandle town of Shamrock. Shamrock is known for having the art deco Tower gas station that was the model for one in the animated move “Cars,” and for its annual St. Paddy’s Day celebration which includes a parade and a “Donegal” beard growing contest. In her 80’s, “Giggy,” as we called her visited us in Houston. At lunch one day in the Houston Galleria, she stood, tapped her water glass for attention, and invited all in the restaurant to Shamrock to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. She is gone now but we have a newer family member that carries on the St. Paddy’s Day birthday tradition. Daughter Alix might just raise a glass of green beer and make a toast to all things Irish. Slainte!