Nora, you are such a great mom! My mother encouraged the part of me that was interested in other cultures and loved to adventure and explore. In fact, I even think she was largely responsible for the person I became by taking me Israeli folk dancing when I was young and teaching me the ills of prejudice. She also made sure I had experiences like skiing and camping and that which would expand the bounds of my day-to-day reality. I am very grateful to my mother for this. Just last year I was able to travel to Israel with the Yuval Ron Ensemble. They are a Middle Eastern music group based in Los Angeles that plays Jewish mystical, Islamic Sufi, and Christian Armenian music all in the same concert! This is very unusual, even unprecedented. We were on a peace through music mission and I blogged live from Israel! You can still read the blog at: http://blog.news-record.com/desertdiary I didn't have the opportunity to blog about every experience in Israel (which required Internet access) but I still have my journal! Maybe some of my stories have been waiting for a skirt! blog! ;) Thanks again Nora!