There are several reasons that a family may decide to set off on a trip around the world.  One is to have experiences that are unavailable or unlikely at home.  We hope for this trip to be a real positive for our family.  That sounds pretty vague and the idea was, in fact, a little fuzzy for us.  You know, kind of like Whirled Peas and The Children at a beauty pageant.  Anyway, after a month on the road, and in the sky, and on the sea, I can see that something really is down in that vat.  I may even be able to guess at what it is. I believe sometimes we all get along by learning how to more effectively ignore each other.  There are situations that I find stressful. I know that I am likely to blow my cool and be rude or worse.  An easy way to “be nice” is to physically remove myself.  That is really just a cop out. I am the same jerk hiding in another room to save face. Really, I ought to expend just a little time and energy expressing myself in a kind way.  I need to actually care for whoever is in front of me more than I care for my selfishness wants. Over here in Southeast Asia and then the Middle East and then back to the Western world we will be the same four people with all of our tendencies intact.  747s carry selfishness with no extra baggage fees.  So, it seems we have taken the family corn out behind the barn and stuffed it into a moonshine still.  Sometimes the circumstances of this trip have us mixing and boiling (just a little!), but as long as we don’t let our jug crack or become compartmentalized, we should have some real strong hooch to pour back into that bottle we call home. Chug-a-lug chug-a-lug.