Thank You

When I was much younger, my grandmother caught me admiring a small item inside her Las Cruces home. It was a black marble hexagon, about as big as your hand, with a mother of pearl inlay of the Taj Mahal. She told me I could take it, and because I was too young to know how to refuse gracefully, I did.  I have since displayed it in my room, in a similar fashion to how it was displayed in my grandmother’s guest bedroom. Every once in a while, when I was pulling a book off my bookshelf, it would catch my eye and I would wonder what it was like to see the real thing.

My grandparents, Stan and Jeannie Hanssen, are a large part of the reason that I’ve been able to take this trip. I grew up hearing stories of their travels to distant lands. In fact, Grandpa Stan gave that black marble inlay of the Taj to my Grandma Jeannie upon his return from a trip to India. I did not find this out until years later, and if I’d known it when it was given to me, I would have done my best to keep it in her hands without offending her generosity.

One of my earliest trips out of the country was a family vacation to France to celebrate their 50^th anniversary. It was to be my first time in Europe, but not my last.

On that same trip, my parents took my brother and I to see Scotland and England. Since then, I’ve been to Mexico, Canada, Scotland, France, England again, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Israel, and Jordan, sometimes with them, sometimes with friends and my brother. My parents and grandparents and brother inspired me to travel, and gave me the tools to do it.

I have been very lucky. Since the day I was born, my parents have been saving money for me to go to university. Dad and Mom both put money yearly into this account, and it grew thanks to their hard work. Grandma and Grandpa also put money into it, sometimes embarrassingly large amounts. Whenever this happened I was utterly floored by their generosity and often didn’t know how to convey my gratitude. Saying thank you just never seemed like enough. On top of all of that, what could I do with this incredible gift that wouldn’t make it mundane, like paying my taxes or rent? When I posed this quandary to Jordan, my brother, he responded with this wisdom:

“That money is an investment in you. Use it to become someone worth investing in.”

Since I earned a ROTC scholarship to go to University, much of that money that remained in its savings account, with the rest going towards expenses that were not covered by the scholarship. When I graduated and was put on IRR, I had an opportunity that many of my peers did not. I could travel the world.

The Taj Mahal is breathtaking in real life. Thank you Grandma Jeannie. Rest in Peace Grandpa Stan. Thank you. Thank you Mom and Dad. Thank you everyone who has made this possible and inspired me to do it.

Thank you.

-Doug