Take your children abroad...

(click on photo to enlarge)

...if you can afford it. I was seven when my parents took me to Europe for three months. It made me realize there are all kind of ways of being in the world, and they're all fascinating. It gave me a lifelong love of travel, exploring, learning languages, history, and art. I have a vivid memory of a Greek beach covered with chunks of white marble, and me wading forever out into clear, warm, turquoise water. And many other wonderful things.

Here we are in our favorite taverna in Naxos, Greece. We spent three weeks on that island with our friends, Tommy and Evie Davis and their three kids. Tom played basketball in Turkey (he was quite a celebrity there), so we met up with his family in Greece, then went on to stay with them in a wonderful place just outside Istanbul.

According to my Mom, during our stay in Naxos we went this taverna every day, sometimes twice a day, to eat or just to have a cup of coffee.  My Dad would play chess with John Stanley (at the center back of the photo) and Tom Davis, and drink beer, philosophizing and laughing.  We didn't speak Greek, and the owner and his wife (standing on the right) didn't speak English, but somehow we all became a kind of family. When we got on the boat weeks later, the owner's wife was at the dock, weeping as she waved goodbye.

From left to right: Paul "Doc" Berry (my dad), me, Jacqueline Berry (my Mom, with the great legs), little Tommy Davis, Jill Davis (the almost not visible towheaded girl), John Stanley, Beth Davis, Evie Davis, and the taverna owner and his wife. I don't know who the seated older man is on the extreme right, but I love him.

I wish I knew the names of our hosts in this photo. Thanks to Tom Davis for taking it (he's behind the camera) and for sending it to my parents recently. Now that it's digital, it'll last forever.