She was half Irish and half Italian. Her mother raised her and her siblings to identify and embrace the italian heritage. It used to piss her off something fierce when I'd tell her if she was more Irish I would probably be "in love" with her. Another time she made me attend a family get together at her parents house. They started talking about ethnic backgrounds and I mentioned that my maternal grandparents were german, english and native american. My girlfriend had already told me never to mention the indian part to her parents. Her mom surprised her by not having a problem with it then shared the "big secret", that she was 3/4 Italian and 1/4 Jew. Then she asked me if I had a problem with it. I told her not all, I had no problem coming to terms with her daughter's Italian part. Her father laughed for the first time that I ever saw when I said that. Mom didn't find as funny.