Published: March 16, 2008 11:20 pm            

LEE WARD: Know your heritage 03/17/08

For many years, I felt left out of St. Patrick’s Day because I was not Irish.

In fact, I didn’t know if I was Irish. I was adopted and had no idea about my heritage.

I knew my adoptive family wasn’t Irish, just British and Dutch. And probably a little Native American, too. They didn’t really know themselves.

For the last 15 years or so, I have known more about my background. I learned that I am mostly Italian and Romanian. It might have been easy to guess that about me, judging from my coloring and some might say judging from my behavior as well.

I was surprised to learn, however, that there is just a dash of Irish in me, too.

My mother’s mother’s maiden name was Hamrick and a couple of years ago I learned she was quite a character, too.

I met my cousin Ronnie at my birth mother’s funeral. We were sitting beside one another with no clue we were related until he asked me how I fit into the family puzzle.

When I told him I was the daughter who was adopted by another family, his eyes got huge. He had been looking for me and actually found me but was reluctant to give me a call, not knowing how I would feel about it.

Meanwhile, I had located my birth mother and two sisters and approached them, hoping for the best. That’s exactly what I got, too. They were three wonderful women who were happy to see me, something not all long-lost children are lucky enough to have greet them.

Turns out, Ronnie lives just a half-hour away from me, much closer than my sisters. And it also turns out that he’s a wealth of information about the family.

He told me how our family arrived in the United States from Italy and he knows how everybody is related to everybody. He has great stories to tell about all kinds of people I’ve never met and won’t have the chance to meet, including my Irish Grandma Anna Hamrick.

Anna was a modern woman who had a career as a midwife. Because she had a career, she made it clear to her husband that she would not be cleaning his clothes or cooking for him. She wasn’t shy about letting him know if she thought he overstepped his bounds in asking her to do something for him, either. You might say she got scrappy with him.

This didn’t mean she never cooked. Ronnie said she made pies and cakes frequently, just in case company stopped by. She wanted to be a good hostess and have something nice to serve.

This created a problem, however. If there were delicious desserts lying around the house, wouldn’t that be a temptation for her husband? Wouldn’t it be likely that he’d want a slice of pie or piece of cake every now and then?

Anna, in her great foresight, realized this could happen. That’s why she hid her baked goods throughout the house for safekeeping until company arrived.

Ronnie said he recalls on at least one occasion visiting during the summer and hiding under the bed, only to come face to face with a cherry pie.

Even though knowing there’s a little bit of Irish in me does make St. Patrick’s Day seem a little friendlier, I can’t say I inherited much from the Irish side of the family. That’s good thing, too. If I went around hiding food in the house, I know I’d forget about it until it started to smell.

LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.

        

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