Thinking about my family and beginnings, I realized that many of their beginnings, over the last three hundred years, were high risk. Their beginnings involved long journeys over land, travel down rivers, and ocean voyages, meeting any number of challenges along the way. They persevered. They sailed the ocean toward the horizon, toward the unknown, toward what they hoped would be opportunity and a new beginning for their family. There was opportunity for hardworking, determined men and women in the new world and they saw the realization of their dream in the lands of Pennsylvania. This sense of adventure and risk is one that was rekindled in my dad, George Dickson Altman, however, in 1955 it was more risk than adventure. After seven years of marriage and two children, Dad decided that there had to be more to life than working as a coal miner. There was also the fact that my brother and I were frequently sick and a dry climate was recommended. After family discussions, it was decid