Arriving at JFK

The lack of entries the past two weeks was because I was on a family trip to France! Our family of four met up with my sister's family of four in Provence for a week and it was a truly a great vacation. We rented a house in the small town of Pernes De La Fontaines, and explored the local areas. ( more on what to see in Provence in an upcoming entry) We flew in and out of NICE and what was so striking was the arrival back in to the US after the 8 hour flight home. We got off the plane and through customs in record time but then there was the wait for the bags. In a tiny area, with low ceilings and dingy walls we waited, for over an hour for our bags to arrive. There was no one around to ask what was going on, and frankly no one seemed to care. Kids were crying, exhausted parents were pacing, and people were cursing in multiple languages. Just as an observation came in to my thinking, one of the disgruntled passengers said it out loud - "This is worse then any third world country I have been to, and I have been to many." He went on to say that "why is is that things in America, every day things seems to be getting so much worse here, while in most every place else I go they seem to get getting better?" It seemed so sad to me that for the many people arriving to America for the first time, from Nice, from Kiev, from Berlin.... this is what they see first. They see a place worn out, crowed, congested, with no one around to offer them assistance or seemingly even care.

Well our bags finally, finally arrived and we crawled on to the Long Island Expressway for the long drive out to the far reaches of Long Island to pick up our dog Sunnie who was on her own vacation with my in-laws. Hours later once the traffic was behind us, it did feel very good to be home.