Three years ago a Brazilian couple living in southern Brazil decided to take a big step. They decided to sell their small shop and move to the USA with their 2 kids aged 4 and 1. They ended up in Chicagoland, I'm not sure how they decided on Chicago, but this is where they ended up. He delivers sandwiches from 11am until 11pm. Whenever we order out it is he who delivers our food. Tonight we ordered a few sandwiches and when he arrived he had a big smile on his face. He said in halting English, "I have a new baby and he is an American, he is an Illinoisan". He was elated! Naturally we congratulated him. I couldn't help but think of all the Italian-Americans/Polish-Americans/Irish-Americans/etc who came to the US and started off in the same manner. Now his baby is a first generation American. This is such a wonderful country. The smile on his face and the sense of joy over having a child who is an American made me realize how fortunate many of us truly are.

At any rate, my mother has decided to bake a Maple cake to give this family in celebration of their new baby. Nothing is more quintessentially American than Maple cake.

__________________
巧言令色, 鲜矣仁!

Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue. ---Confucius