i'm coming home, ireland

Two weekends ago, I went to the Irish Festival in Dublin, Ohio. My favorite part was the music. The Irish just have wonderful music. Everywhere you go in the festival there is music playing - traditional bands, pipe bands, Irish rock bands, even just folks sitting down and playing sets (which, really, is what Irish music is all about).

This post isn't really about the Irish Fest, though, as I don't really have much more to say about it other than it was lovely. But, being around so many things Irish reminded me of my last name, which is Irish. Or at least, the first Neeley that I'm related to who came from Europe came from Ireland. And thinking about Neeleys reminded me about a story that I heard once about Neeleys. And here it is....

The early Neeleys were a seafaring people and very adventurous. They were out exploring new waters and a new island was discovered. Well, there was quite an uproar - everyone around wanted to settle this new island. So it was decided that they'd have a contest - there would be a race to the new island and whoever touched it first got to claim it. The race starts, and Neeley fell behind, but was still pretty close to the leader. When it becomes apparent that he isn't going to reach the island before the other guy, he cuts off his hand and throws it to the island, thereby touching the island first and winning claim to settling it.

I was told this story by an old coworker who also had Neeley ancestors. I asked my grandma if she'd ever heard the story before and she said no. But what does she know? She's not really a Neeley anyway, she's a Hollrock (pure Prussian if ever there was one).

I, for one, believe the story is true because it showcases a lot of classic Neeley traits: competitive, bold, stubborn, high tolerance to pain, not thinking ahead (like - maybe I'll need a hand for the rest of my life?), cheating if it makes you win (or, looking for the loopholes), etc. I definitely believe I could have descended from someone like that.