My son left for Ireland today for a week of vacation, so my wife and I, and my son and his girlfriend celebrated last evening at Paddy Malone's, our local Irish pub. I wore my Ireland's National, and the owner of Paddy's recognized it immediately (has one himself).

There must have been at least a dozen people, men and women, who came over to our table to tell me how nice my kilt looked. Great food. They have a hamburger called a Paddy Melt that is advertized at 1/2 pound. Their scales must be off, because this burger was at least 3/4 of a pound after cooking. We all drank Irish beers - lighter beers for my wife and my son's girlfriend - Guiness, of course for me and my son. Plenty of Irish music (including bagpipes) and singing.

The decor is fantastic. I really liked a picture of an Irish piper in full regalia (wearing a kilt of course). At the top of the picture it said "Call to Arms," and under the piper is said "Irishmen, do you hear the call?"

So at about 2 AM tomorrow morning (Ireland time), my son's plane lands in Shannon, Ireland - another Kennedy will set foot on the land of his ancestors.

Darrell