Imbolc New Moon (Awakening)
Tonight we sat around Frank’s long table, a green shamrock table cloth decorating its top, a pot of shamrocks in the middle, on it platters of corned beef, bowls of mashed potatoes and cabbage and soda bread in saucers.
Instead of our usual Irish related conversation we turned to a difficult topic. A person known to several of us and close to one of us has been charged with murder. The circumstances are not clear at this point, but it seems he had a fist fight with a much bigger guy and as a result of the fight the other guy died.
This is not the usual Woolly territory though we have children and friends who have stumbled badly with drugs and alcohol, even two instances of gang related activity, but murder enters a whole new realm. This is a saga that has just begun. He is in jail and the family has sought a defense attorney but not settled on one yet. A tragedy on many levels.
Afterward we discussed topics ranging from female mutilation to how to avoid urinary leakage, a common older male problem. Mostly though we laughed and enjoyed each others company. The extraordinary thing about the Woollies is how the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
