So Why Trouble?

It has very little to do with inconvenience or frustration.

Might want to pull up a chair. The explanation is a bit lengthy.

It all started back in the early 50s, in Southern California. I was about six years old, the middle of three daughters, followed a year or so later by a son. Our parents, after first having a “straight arrow” daughter, and then an “angelic” daughter for their third child, decided I was going to be nothing but trouble. So much so, that they bought a t-shirt for me that said “Here comes Trouble” on the front, and “There goes Trouble” on the back. If I ever get to sorting out old pictures, I’ll post one of me wearing that shirt, in our backyard on College Ave. in Whittier, CA. I thought as the years passed that I had outgrown the moniker.

Now fast forward to 1999. For my 50th birthday, I gave myself a present… a trip to Wales and Scotland with my sisters to do genealogy research. (Well, it wasn’t all research, we did spend time out of libraries and cemeteries, too.) After a week in Laugharne, Wales, we made our way by train back to London, and caught the overnight train to Edinburgh. We boarded our sleeping car, and were greeted by the car’s attendant. We introduced ourselves as three sisters from “The States”. He studied us for a moment, then looked at my older sister and said, “This one’s Big Sister”. He then looked at my younger sister and said, “This one’s Wee Sister”. And then he looked at me and said, “And this one’s Trouble”! He then proceeded to put them in 2 adjoining bedrooms at one end of the car, and me at the other end of the car, right next to him, where he could “keep an eye on me”! Saying my sisters got a real kick out of this is an understatement.

So you see, the trouble isn’t the occasional inconvenience and frustration of travel. It is quite literally traveling WITH Trouble!