Grapes of Wrath - 21st Century Style
Well, it's the final countdown. In less than 96 hours the family and I will bid goodbye to our middle-America life here in Ohio and begin our journey to southern California. Like the Joads in "The Grapes of Wrath", we hope to find a brighter future and more opportunity in the golden state - specifically in the San Diego area. We aren't exactly leaving behind the Depression era dust-bowl existence the leading family in Steinbeck's masterpiece escaped from, but the economic atmosphere in southern Ohio isn't exactly conducive to those looking to prosper in these tough times. I also get the notion that Fadi and I are perhaps simply nomadic by nature. Considering I haven't lived in my native Florida since "escaping" at age 17 in 2000, and Fadi has been displaced from his native continent for six years now, moving and starting over in a foreign land is nothing new to either of us. We do feel a little guilty about uprooting our six-year-old daughter -