This made me think about the email that I had just sent to my brother. I said that I thought we must have gotten the travel bug from my paternal grandmother and double dosed it with the adventures of my maternal grandfather.

It seems as though one of us in the family is always out of the country.

My brother is working in Brazil. He speaks fluently French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese and can get by in German.

My nephew is going to school in Italy. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese and all of his classes are in Italian - so he is mastering that language now. He was born in the United States.

My other nephew is on a holiday in Panama. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese. He was born in Brazil.

My niece takes advantage of the airmiles my brother racks up so rapidly, and any opportunity to travel to Europe - she's gone.

My adventure this year was to Australia and New Zealand. I can speak a very limited Spanish and also can understand a good deal of Italian. French was my college language and I failed miserably at that language. I could never get the accents.



And Karen, thank you, I personally just hate it when our members feel they have to be so snotty to each other.