Speaking of Traditions

Last weekend we visited Maryland for the annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration at Shannon's. For 13 straight years I've joined the Rutgers gang, which goes by multiple different names, on (or near) St. Patrick's Day in keeping with a tradition that dates back to my junior year of college.

The tradition started when two of my friends - one of whom goes by the last name McNamara, if you're checking St. Patrick's Day credentials - drove down to Maryland with me from New Brunswick, NJ, after they heard about the earliest St. Patrick's Day party in Maryland, which starts at 6 a.m. and features a live radio show. Needless to say, they enjoyed themselves, and they've been coming back ever since.

Over time our celebration has grown and the schedule has changed - we now get together on weekends to accommodate work schedules, which means no radio show but also no pre-dawn wakeup. Nevertheless, the gathering is a constant, a guaranteed time each year when we know we'll see good friends and celebrate weddings, babies, promotions, and the patron saint of Ireland.

We dedicated this year's celebration to Brian Markley, who recently made partner at his law firm in New York, and adopted a "Howdy, Partner" theme, fit with cowboy hats and all. This comes one year after our 8-8-08 theme, celebrating the August 8, 2008 wedding of Vinny T and Jessica. I was a proud groomsman (and together with Erica, an occasional Maraca player, as the photo to the right shows) in Vinny T's wedding.

You may recognize some of these faces from our Novemberfest entry. We added Novemberfest, where we get together at a Rutgers football game, as a way to see each other in the fall.