We welcome St. Patrick’s Day with this edition! This time I’m going to break away from what I usually do! Scroll down to see what! Laughter drives away a couple’s squabbles and a fresh dating update for you! Check it out…

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not trying to be gimmicky! Like you, I always associate St. Paddy’s with lots of beer, revelry and generally doing all those crazy things that I cannot do for the rest of the year. I was making another night-out-with-friends plan this St. Patrick’s Day. Sarah had other ideas on her mind. She asked me, “Would you like this year to be like the other years? Or would you like it to be different?” I was all for doing something spectacular. Of course, at the back of my head I knew that Sarah has something lined up that would be totally isolated from what we usually do. Remember how different my Valentine’s Day was?

I am looking at a fresh take on St. Patrick’s Day here. Sarah dropped this idea that green was not just about envy, it was also about trying something unique! I pestered her to tell me what we are going to do, but Sarah would not tell me. “What’s a surprise if you have the updates?” was her reason. So guys, this has all the promise to be the most ‘romantic’ St. Patrick’s I have had. As for my friends, I have to think of a really good excuse to slip out of our yearly ritual of bar hopping! Wish me luck here and watch this space next week to find out what I and Sarah did.

It’s funny how you crack up in the middle of a fight! You may be really upset and on the verge of bursting out. You may be really tempted to pick up the vase and launch it at your human target, like a projectile. But the fun part is that without doing any of that, you just split up your sides with roaring laughter because the person you are fighting with said something incredibly funny, without meaning to. A case in point is this fight that Adrian and Cathy were having right in my living room. Adrian forgot to pick up some DVDs that Cathy wanted. Cathy was accusing Adrian of messing up her weekend.

The verbal volleys continued as I made coffee. I am not much disturbed by their bickering anymore. Good that Sarah isn’t this way. I mean, she would just make her points with such finality that there would be no room for debate! Getting back to the story, Cathy said, “What do you want us to do over the weekend? Get at each others…” Before Cathy completed her line, I turned around and saw Adrian’s face. It was everything between shock and surprise. Cathy finished her line with a deadpan expression: “… throats?” Adrian broke into a guffaw and realizing what we were expecting her to say, Cathy cracked up as well!

This one’s complicated. Megan is dating a guy, Dan. Dan works at the joint where Megan works as a sous chef. The complication is that Dan has a couple of kids. He was married but has filed for divorce a few months back. We were happy about Megan getting on the dating scene again, but when we heard about the back story, we were a little apprehensive. Now you guys know her: Megan is very serious about anything she’s involved with. There is no doubt that Megan is serious about this guy as well. The only part that bothers her is about the kids. Megan is not sure if it’s a good idea to think long-term about Dan.

Megan confided in me, “You know, Bob, things are great between us. We like each other a lot and there’s some crackling chemistry here, but I’m not sure if I should go ahead with it.” As you can understand, I had nothing definite to say on this. I pointed out that where kids are involved, things can get a handful. There could be legal issues. There could be a ton of things that Megan would have to cope with. Any relationship that starts off with such a lot of baggage gets strained in no time at all. “I’m not doubting your ability to handle things here,” I told her, “it’s just that, are you sure you want all this in your life right now?” The jury in Megan’s mind is out on this one!

Rachael puts a lot of premium on her work. I have never heard her mom and my sister Liz complaining about her academics or her projects. Readers of my newsletters know that Rachael’s projects have always received pats of approval from her teachers. It’s just that the pressure to perform is getting to her. Every single time Rachael is assigned something, it’s like a battle to better what she did the last time around. Everything comes to a standstill. Rachael doesn’t hang out anymore, calls are unattended, more often than not, meals are untouched. No cookies for guessing that her body and mind suffers.

Liz tried to talk Rachael out of this self-constructed idea that failure is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. Rachael would have none of that. Her relationship with Charlie gets strained too, but Rachael is adamant about not taking things easy. Liz quoted something Rachael told her when Liz was trying to make her see reason. Rachael had said, “This is a race, mom, not a walk in the park!” I am deeply concerned about Rachael. Trying to better your best is absolutely okay, but putting your life and relationships hostage to achieve that is something that we must consider with some deliberations. I leave you to your thoughts on this.

Let’s sign off this edition on a positive note. Here’s an Adrienne Cook quote for all you St. Paddy fans: “St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time – a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.”