Shamrocks and John Wayne

Spent the morning of a gorgeous St. Patrick's Day watching The Quiet Man. One of several movies John Ford made with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, this beautiful Oscar-winning comedy features Wayne as a former boxer who just hung up his gloves and returns to his native Ireland to claim his family's homestead. He falls for feisty O'Hara, but has to contend with her bullying brother (Victor MacLaghlin) who is sporting for a fight, oddball locals, and the old-fashioned courting customs native to the Emerald Isles.

Ford loved both the story and Ireland, and it shows in every frame, from the real Irish backdrops to the equally real Irish or Irish-American cast. Barry Fitzgerald in particular is fun as an old friend of Wayne's family. (I loved him taking bets on the donnybrook in the finale!)

Mom called about mid-way through The Quiet Man. She wanted to know if I'd looked up Asperger's Syndrome yesterday, that I should tell my psychiatrist about it, and that she's there if I need to talk to her.

I still don't like the idea. I've been hoping so hard that I was just a normal person with some weird quirks. I don't want to be a test case my whole life. I don't want people to think there's something wrong with me or to treat me differently if there is. I'm not a China doll or a hamster. I'm a person.

I spent the rest of my St. Patrick's Day at work. Thank goodness after last St. Patrick's Day (when I worked late on the day after a snowstorm and spent it listening to two inane teenage boys blabber), it was a beautiful, perfect 50 degree March day and my shift was busy but not really a problem.