Sidetracked Charley

Peaceful Co-existence When in Rome do as the Romans do, was one of the earliest pieces of advice I can remember clearly. It had multiple versions and adaptations, from always treat the property of others better than your own to you are a guest here so behave as one and If you don't like the rules you do not have to play. Later in my rebellious youth I questioned the rules but quickly found I had the best success when I fit in with my audience or when in Rome once again. I have always behaved as a guest when travelling to new places. After all isn't travel about learning new cultures as well as taking 505 selfies before landmarks? You definitely never litter, you are always polite, you engage the locals in conversations not lecture them on your opinions of how things should be run, you never bring a boom box to a high mountain meadow or keep your cell phone on during a concert. Above all life works best if you follow the laws and rules of where you are at. And if you...

As the family saga goes it was all about a small pox vaccination. My mother thought the resultant scars were ugly so appealed to the family doctor to put mine on the underside of my arm. I was a lot less than a year old at the time Mother was scheduled to be flying with me on a military plane to join Dad in Rome. Eager to get away from all the relatives she planned well ahead for the vaccination so it I got sick it would not delay her departure. Two weeks later I had not shown any sign the vaccination hat taken. The site looked like an insect bite and Mother carried a certificate from the doctor that I had indeed been given all shots necessary for international travel. Sometime mid Atlantic I became seriously ill. And by the time we touched down in Rome, at the civil and not military airport I was running a fever of 104 and covered with welts, and very dehydrated. I had what custom officials believed was a full blown case of Small Pox. Which was confirmed by not having the stand...