My Home

"At the early age of thirty-eight me mother said Go West!"

Those who know me are well aware of my love and respect for my Irish heritage. As I sit here just short of my 29th birthday I realize that I have more than lived up to the stereotype of Irishmen found in the Christy Moore lyrics cited above: a tendency to live at home with their "mammies" well past the age when most people have left.

Living at home post-25 is an interesting experience. Television and movies tell us that it is for unemployed losers who can't get their acts together (see George Costanza) Others say that it's a smart move because it's a great way to save money. Personally, I always had everything I needed here in Stewart Manor: family, friends and the support that comes along with them.

Stewart Manor NY 11530. This is the only address I have ever known. This is my home.

This is where I threw tennis balls against the stoop to practice my fielding for Little League, shot tape pucks at garbage can nets and played tennis with my sister Anne every summer during the US Open

This is where I come home (even to do this day) late at night and in various stages of sobriety to let my parents know that I'm home safe even though they don't always remember it in the morning.

This is where I would sneak outside for a late night cigarette after everyone had gone to bed (DISCLAIMER: I did this when I smoked which I no longer do)

This is where my parents set the example for what married life and family should be.

This is Manor Brews and Carvel

This is where my sisters treated me like a prince even though I rarely reciprocated.

This is where I spent all of my Christmas mornings; walking downstairs before dawn as a child and being dragged out of bed to walk upstairs as an adult.

This is where I became a lifelong Mets fan after watching Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS with my grandmother.

This is where Monday nights were for 24 with Maureen, Frank and Jack Bauer.

This is the town where I played Little League, was a Boy Scout and am now a fireman.

This is where my father, perhaps after a few cocktails, would sing "Dirty Old Town" while cleaning up in the kitchen after a family party.

This is where it took me 25 years to get my act together academically and provide my parents with the Masters they deserved much more than I did.

And finally: this is where I spent my entire life.

I'm getting married on Saturday which fills me with more excitement then anything before. I cannot wait to start my new life with my wife Mary Kate. However, it would be dishonest for me to say that I'm not a little sad right now. I'm sad for this amazing chapter in my life that will soon be just a memory.

It is now my turn. Saturday starts a new chapter that will present the challenge of being as good of a spouse as my father is to my mother and my mother to my father and to one day provide my children a life that just might make them want to live at home until they're 29.