The Traveler's Journey

I am embarking upon new journeys all the time it seems. Of coarse we did cover that in my last posting, seeings how I am one who takes on more than I can chew. :) And today I have the luxury of trying to compile a family tree. This is quite difficult since my knowledge of my extended family is..well we can sum it up in this three letter word, zip! One cannot help but get a little mushy and nostalgic as the information floods to you (or trickles slowly down a very narrow stream) on your family members and the journeys that they have embarked upon. It's odd how you can have the desire to search for someone you have never met, and how the curiosity of family members abounds, tho they are distant and often dead, strangers. Sorry, I believe the politically correct term for dead is "expired."
So I have invested time and money searching for those people, and in the middle of all of this, I have to confess one of these mushy feelings I am experiencing...thankfulness. A rush of gratitude comes over me as I try and decipher port of call records dated from 1923. Imagine with me the journey of an immigrant trying to head to the "Western World." A land of opportunity. Hmmm...I wonder if America is all my great grandparents thought it would be?
Knowing now that I am only a 3rd generation American, makes me so thankful that my great grandparents were willing to take the trip and hop the seas. Had they not, I would have grown up in a different country. A land where perhaps I had to worship the government's gods, pray in the fashion they determined, dress the way they told me to, and raise my kids how "every generation before me did." Naturally then my train of thought leads me to the sweet treats that other cultures enjoy. Yes, my mind is always on sugar. :p
What if my family decided to stay? What if God placed me in a country like Asia where chocolate is considered a luxury? This means no mean mugs of hot chocolate, no warm chocolate chip cookies for Santa Claus, and absolutely no Reese's Peanut Butter cups. Are you kidding me? Ugh! Then I learn that India is a culture full of sweet-toothed citizens...surely my type of people. And yet most of them cannot afford chocolate due to high taxation (without representation?..had to... sorry.)

I am determined to delve into a daily life full of chocolate, not much modification has to be made there, as well as continue to learn about my distant family who unbelievably could have lived with a limited chocolate supply. Would it be too much pun to say let's get em' while they're hot? The chocolate chip cookies that is. Hot because they are coming out of the oven...get em' because we have the current luxury to indulge...never mind. You'll get that later :) Just a little thankful thought to approach Thanksgiving Day with tomorrow. We'll chat soon~