<. I don't dwell on my ancestry very much simply because if Europe was such a big deal, why did so many people feel the need to leave?

There are plenty of reasons to leave Europe. My brother studied in Belgium, got an engineer diploma and left for the States to have a job (first at TRW, then at Delco for GM). He earned much more money than anybody had in the family in the 6 years he spent there. Yes, he returned back here. Perhaps because he couldn't find a steady girlfriend (being very demanding). I've been traveling in the US many times, on vacation,something he didn't do (traveling for him meant returning back here for Xmas). Some bright minds will want to leave Europe and stay in the US, true enough, but there are also many from Eastern Europe or North Africa who find it pleasant here. We, in the family feel allright either in the US or in Belgium; there are advantages but also inconveniences on both sides of the Atlantic. It depends. But, generally speaking, there is no more a flux of emigrants from Europe as it had been the case in the past.

Raoul