Being Phlegmish

Many of us are spending time sneezing and coughing our way through this global warming winter. My oldest granddaughter and I are sharing the experience of continuous phlegm production and she wanted to know why.

 

I told her that we must be part Flemish, so I looked it up and found a link to Flanders in Northern Belgium where they speak Flemish, a local version of Dutch. Flanders borders the Netherlands and Germany, so they speak Dutch, Flemish German and French.

 

I almost moved to Belgium when I was 7 years old.  My Dad was promoted to be Managing Director of Volkart Brothers in Brussels, Belgium, but my Mom moved us back from Queens NY to St. Louis MO instead.  I was excited about learning German, Dutch and French, but was more than happy to return to St. Louis.

 

My ancestry is mostly Irish with a little Welsh and I’m the one with the sinus problem, so I wondered if any of my rowdy ancestors made it over to Flanders.

 

But my wife’s ancestors were German, so I thought she might have contributed to our phlegimshness.  She accompanied me on a business trip to Germany in 1993 to establish a subsidiary in Aachen, close to the Dutch border.  She was a Johannes and we found the Johannes Castle, Johannes Church and Johannes Beer close by. I am certain that some of these Johannes’ had wandered into Flanders in Belgium and that’s how we got our Flemishness. We are taking Mucinex and Claritin.

 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader