Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: I

As a young girl I had heard aunts, uncles and older cousins speak of the Byrne family as something special. Indeed, as I recall, being a Byrne was almost on a par with being a Catholic. Listening to grown-ups' conversations, I sometimes detected a different set of rules for the family than for those outside the clan. What was a misdemenor or wrongdoing by a cousin was often laughed off in the telling as a prank and excusable, wheras the same act by somebody else would surely bring criticism and condemnation.