“One time my Da tied a rope around the branches of an oul’ tree behind our house, to make a swing. It was fairly dangerous and kids kept slipping off the rope and crashing through our greenhouse. I think 14 kids ended up in the Emergency Room because of that. So one day, my Da had a great idea, he tied a car tyre to it, so we could sit in it, and swing. That was brilliant, until our neighbor, Timmy Gillespie, noticed one of the tyres from his Toyota Carina was missing, and so was the rope that he had in the trunk of his car. So that was the end of that. Da also robbed Timmy’s ladder and his lawnmower, but they were unconnected to our swing adventures. We emigrated to the States shortly after that, settling in Miami. Now Da just robs beach umbrellas and swimming pool items from the neighbors. Loves robbin’ stuff, so he does”. – Caroline (33), formerly Roscommon, now Miami.
Posts Tagged ‘humans of irish america’
Caroline’s Story, formerly Roscommon, now Miami.
Thursday, October 15th, 2015Bernie’s Story – Formerly Sligo, now Arizona.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2015
“It was petty crime that forced me to grow up and emigrate. I remember one time, back in Sligo, I got convicted for stealing the same slab of butter twice in three days from our local shop. I was only caught, because it turned out I was allergic to dairy and they found me in a distressed state, vomiting and crying for mammy, in a ditch by the side of the Galway road. Since I landed in the US I’ve barely been in trouble. Once I got cautioned for throwing underpants onstage at a Tom Jones concert, but I’d forgotten to take them out of the hard plastic wrapping, and it hit poor Tom’s drummer in the eye”. Bernie 51, Arizona, formerly Sligo.
Caroline’s Story (County Louth).
Monday, September 14th, 2015
A family, yesterday.
“It was weird for us, being the only Mormon family in Termonfeckin, County Louth. Each Sunday, to go to service, we had an eleven-hour round trip, as the nearest prayer center was on a small island off the coast of Galway, and sometimes, if the weather was particularly harsh, we’d be stranded there for some weeks. So, when Mom suggested we move to Utah, the whole family agreed that it’d be like moving ‘home’, so we upped sticks, literally, as we did have lots of sticks, and moved to Utah, the Mormon capital of the world. Sadly, Mom got chatting to a Jewish couple on the plane, and was so impressed by them, she ended up converting all of us to Judaism. Now we’re the only Jewish family in a Utah town of 86,412. It’s shite, I never thought I’d miss Termonfeckin”. – Caroline (28), Termonfeckin, County Louth, now Utah.
Marian’s Story (Wicklow).
Monday, September 14th, 2015
Watchin’ the oul’ telly-box.
“I remember one time, years ago, at home in County Wicklow, we were watching ‘Little House on the Prairie’ on the telly. It was Mam’s favorite show, that, ‘The Waltons’ and ‘Cops’, you know the one, where they do sing ‘Bad Boys, Bad Boys, What You Gonna Do, What You Gonna Do, When They Come For You’, well she did love that too, so it might have been that one. Anyway, she said to Dad that she did love all the lovely scenery on the American telly shows, with the mountains and the rivers and the horses. So we moved to the South Bronx. Lived here 43 years now, but there’s hardly any mountains or rivers here at all, so there isn’t. So every week she writes to the TV people, callin” them a load of lyin’, connivin’ bastards”. – Marian (51), formerly Wicklow, now Bronx, New York.