My mom, Bobbie Lee, was very proud of her Irish heritage. Her mother emigrated from Ireland in 1936 and my grandma spoke Irish, she sang Irish songs and had the most beautiful accent that my mom and I could imitate. And we often did.

In 2005, my mom and I established our Irish citizenship through my grandma and eventually we got our Irish passports in the mail. My mom was very proud of that and proud to tell everyone she was Irish.

So it was in 2018 when I took my mom out to breakfast and a walk around a Saturday market. She was wearing a green scarf with four leaf clovers on it, she had her Irish passport tucked into the pocket of her favorite jeans and wore her green Irish socks. Everywhere we went she walked up to people and smiled and said, “top of the mornin’ to ya!” in her best Irish accent, and then she would tip her head like she was a leprechaun wearing a top hat. I just sat back and smiled, knowing she wouldn’t have many more of these days, but trying not to think about that.

My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s from a Traumatic Brain Injury in 2014 and indeed, later in 2018, we had to move her into memory care as her disease progressed. She got two more St. Patrick’s Days before she passed away from COVID on August 24, 2020.

Among my most prized possessions is her expired Irish passport.