Returning to The Homeland

By early next week, crankyjewishguy (CJG) is really going to be out of sorts, and it's not going to have anything to do with overdosing on Christmas music. Why is CJG going to be cranky? Because he and his family are going on vacation to Puerto Rico. I know; why would the prospect of going to a sun drenched island with palm trees and spectacular beaches in the middle of December make CJG cranky? A couple of reasons actually.

First, CJG hates to fly. He feels very insecure up there. Second, CJG doesn't tolerate chaos well and packing, for some members of his family who will go unmentioned, requires that every stitch of clothing be removed from the closets, dressers and armoires to be liberally strewn about the house for several days before final decisions about what to pack are made, and in the end, almost everything will be crammed into overloaded suitcases. Packing for CJG is very simple and takes about five minutes, regardless of destination and length of trip: one pair jeans, two pair shorts, sneakers, t-shirts, underwear, socks, toothbrush and medications, including the little white pills that help him board the plane. CJG guy will also be cranky because his sons, 20 and 15, will constantly be telling him to calm down.

The Other Jewish Homeland

Actually, CJG is kind of stoked about this trip because he is returning to the land of his roots. You see, CJG was born in Puerto Rico, but has never been back to Aguadilla (see map above), the town where he was born. He can't wait to see the monument the grateful people of Aguadilla have erected in his honor. He thinks it will look something like this:

Because he left Aguadilla for the mainland long before he could walk, CJG has few memories of life in Puerto Rico, but it was probably awesome. In fact, here is a picture of CJG enjoying life in the Homeland the last time he was there. The weather looked pretty good. Hakuna matata.

crankyjewishguy with Mom and Carly in 1953. If he could have
talked he would have complained about the dirty diaper left on the
 beach (left center).

NEWS FLASH! 

Just one week in the blogosphere and crankyjewishguy is already an international sensation! He's had visitors from the United States and nine foreign countries, including one page view in Nepal. Nepal? That means 100% of the Jewish population of Nepal has visited crankyjewishguy! If that guy needs to have a minyan he has to borrow Jews from neighboring China.

P.S. After writing this News Flash, CJG was surprised to find a web site called Jewish Nepal. Who knew Jews could live so high above sea level?