The Tan Legs Files: Who would have thunk it?

First of all, I of course had to look up the word "thunk" only to find I'm pretty sure I've been using the word wrong. Here is what Wikipedia said:
Thunk may refer to:
Thunk (functional programming), a piece of code to perform a delayed computation
Thunk (object-oriented programming): a feature of some virtual function table implementations
Thunk (compatibility mapping), a mapping of machine data from one system-specific form to another
A measure of time, used on Digital Equipment Corporation computers, measuring the number of clock ticks since the founding of the Smithsonian Institution
The underside of a Battleship

WOW!! Who knew "thunk" was such a technical word? Well I didn't!!! How about you? I use the word in the redneck way it was intended to be used.

Anyways, it's been a whole year since our trip to Europe! Hard to believe. It seems like a lifetime ago yet when I close my eyes I can put myself right back on our ship on the Rhine River. The memory of the sounds, sights and smells of the European countryside can and does bring tears to my eyes.

You see, we were raised without much. I guess that made us poor but I didn't know the difference. I seriously thought most people lived without indoor plumbing and only had wood for heat. I can garden, can food and cut up most animals and fish for supper. I thought everyone knew how to do that. I also know that you never take a deep breath when gutting out an animal or cleaning a chicken. I learned that the hard way....barf! I have these skills because this was how we survived. We had chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. My family hunted and people would bring us their road kill on occasion because they knew we would appreciate the venison. (That's a story for another day) We didn't starve but at mealtime we were allowed one pork chop, one scoop of potatoes, one scoop of vegetables, one piece of bread and one glass of milk. Never ever were we allowed to have milk in-between meals. There wouldn't be enough for mealtime. If we were thirsty, there was the coldest, best tasting well water you ever had. Kool aid was a huge treat!!!! And soda, that was even a bigger treat. Juice? That was fancy stuff. I also knew that there were people worse off than us who didn't even have a glass of milk at anytime. I am not complaining...just explaining.

I tell you all of this to tell you that going anywhere on an airplane was a pie in the sky dream. In my youth I thought I would only experience traveling through books and movies. Only in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would travel outside Wisconsin except to drive to Nebraska to see my grandparents. My first flight was to Florida for our honeymoon in 1981 to see The Mouse!!! aka Mickey Mouse.

We flew into Amsterdam and boarded a ship and cruised the Rhine River to The Danube River and flew out of Vienna with many stops along the way. This takes 2 weeks. I literally stood on the front of that ship much like Leonardo Dicaprio did in Titanic, only I didn't have my arms out and didn't yell "I'm king of the world". I just stood there in silent wonder. Here I was shy little Kathy Swartwout on a ship in the middle of Europe floating on waters where Kings once floated. I touched a doorknob the Hitler touched. Stood where Napoleon stood. I walked on cobblestones that carried happy feet and beaten and bloody feet. I can barely wrap my head around it now. But sometimes, like right now I can put myself back on that ship or holding that doorknob or walking where Anne Frank walked.

It was the trip of a lifetime. I tell you the story of how I grew up so I hope you understand how grateful I am to have had the experience. But, the important thing I learned on this trip was (at the risk of sounding like Dorothy) the world is an amazing place full of amazing people but none so amazing as the ground I walk everyday and the people I am fortunate enough to in my life, in my little corner of the world. And this my friends makes for very happy feet!