Six years of good luck

There are a few defining moments in a man's life. Birth, baptism, mission, marriage and now, participation in the ancient Celtic ritual of the "tigloo." A few Fridays ago, Melinda was on a walk with Bree when she happened by the home of our friendly neighborhood Irish family, the O'Connors. Among other things, Paul O'Connor is a cross-country skiing Olymipian.

No joke.

He competed for Ireland in the 2002 SLC Olympic Games. He is probably in his forties, but it is hard to tell because he looks and acts so youthful. (And by "youthful," I mean I believe he's part-leprechaun, who we all know have much longer life spans...)

Paul handed Melinda a flyer advertising the one-day-only exhibition of an ice tigloo at the O'Connors' house. The whole thing was to raise money to benefit a close friend who had been seriously hurt in a recent car accident.

We showed up that night to support the cause and to enjoy cookies, doughnuts, hot chocolate and the story of the Celtic tigloo, a snow arch decorated with lights. Legend has it that whoever kisses underneath the snow arch will have six years of good luck along with several other cool "legendary" things happening. Melinda and I need all the luck we can get (or at least so said the craps table during our last weekender in Vegas...), so we did the honors and then got our picture taken under the tigloo.




It seems Paul O'Connor had turned on that ol' leprechaun mischief though, because we also found out there is no such thing as a Celtic tigloo. They almost never even get snow in Ireland, and certainly not enough to build snow arches and create traditions and rituals around them.

In spite of the lies and deception, we had fun at the O'Connors. We'd had some laughs with friends, helped a girl in need and learned a little more about the Emerald Isle.

We left in high spirits (and blood sugar levels...).