Irish culture is a jewel into itself. The more you know about it, the more value it has. The beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder and in this case, the listener. Being the daughter of Dubliners, I have learned the art of the phone call amongst family. My innocent chat with my younger brother this morning will be by night's end retold to my mother, my older brother, one to two of my brother's friends, as well as myself telling it to my family members, who in turn will tell another one to three people. The origins of Irish storytelling in the modern age - the phone is the vehicle of the mobile verbal newspaper! Here is an example: I tell my brother, Paul, that I rung up Uncle John in Dublin on June 1st which would have been my Dad's 85th birthday (My father died at home in California on June 15th, 2002). I like to hear my uncle's voice as it reminds me of my Dad's. My cousin, Ben (formerly known as Bernard) answers. We chat about both family's aging parents & their health as well as other news. By afternoon my mom is ringing me to find out more news from my earlier call to Ireland. By evening my older brother Dermot is calling with queries as well. Lord help me the day I win the lottery! I figure the word will spread so quick, my family will be at my front door before I am ready to walk out to collect my winnings! Yet family, you got to love them. That call today is another way to let someone you love know that you are still alive & thinking of them. For it is the moments which make up the hours which make up the days which we then remember again as moments which are our memories. As a young child, I remember the awe of being able to hear my Granny Ryan's voice on a crackling operator assisted long distance expensive call on a rotary dial heavy phone. Imagine that though we were 6,000 miles apart & eight hours difference, we were having this conversation. Though my parents both wrote home often to family, it was the phone calls which had such a last memory - to hear the voice and accent of the mother of my mother. I could hear where my mother's words and sayings came from by hearing my granny's voice. Though my granny passed away when I was 12, by writing this article, I have connected back to that memory. Irish culture is learning about what interests you & if you are Irish you want to learn about the past as well as the present as the intermingling of the two is so important. It is the essence of the roots and of the future. Ireland has changed so much in the past 5-15 years on so many levels yet the core of the Irish is the family. The family is the bond, for better or worse, which either drives people away from their own kind yet at the same time, holds onto them. For some families, there is no problems, at least to the naked eye or outside viewer. My parents emigrated when times were tough in Ireland. Now Ireland has what we always had when we were growing up in America. Ironically, I have family members wanting to return to Ireland while Irish friends here wouldn't go back. Ah, the subject of future phone calls and articles for my column. Write us and let us know your Irish phone calls. Lets have a chat!