By: Jeff Meade

Those of us with even a bit of Irish running through our veins are acutely aware of our heritage. Obnoxious about it sometimes, really.

Jamie Perry of Parkland, Florida—the winner of our latest Mickmail contest—is just as proud of her ties to the land of the leprechauns and shamrocks and warm beer. But for a substantial chunk of her life, Jamie was pretty well convinced that she was anything but Irish.

“I was born in Philadelphia in November of 1958,” Jamie said in an e-mail. “My first house was in Overbrook Park on Sherwood Road. When I was 9 years old we moved to Havertown, until 1979.”

Here, she says, is where the story “gets interesting!”

That would be one word for it. “Amazing,” might be another. You see, Jamie was adopted … but she had always been told that she was Jewish. “I was raised Jewish for 36 years … until my mom told me the true story: my biological mom is Irish and my biological father is Italian.”

She said she had always felt that something might be amiss. “Growing up, all my girlfriends were either Irish or Italian!” she said. “I've always been drawn to Celtic music, food, drink. The most amazing thing was when I became pregnant with my daughter. (This was before I found out about my roots.) I named her Caitlin Megan.”

Though she has been able to learn her biological mother’s last name—it’s McCreery—she has not been able to track her down. Still, she’s never far from her thoughts. “This year on Mothers Day, I went (with my daughter Caitlin) and got a small shamrock tattoo in honor of ‘me Ma’,” she said.

So we happily hand over the Irish gift basket from our friends at FoodIreland.com to our new subscriber Jamie Perry, who said Mickmail keeps her in touch with her Philly Irish roots. Sounds like those roots run pretty deep.