U.S.M.S. "Western World"

Life occasionally overwhelms me with anxiety and uncertainty so much that I can't see the ground beneath my feet. This was one such weekend, but I had several reminders of how little myself or my troubles matter at all in the grand scheme of things. One day I sat at a table amidst 4,000 utter strangers, milling around the building I spend most of my days in, not seeing one familiar face, realizing that all have similar worries and wonders, but that I will never know them at all...and these were people in my own familiar space- what about the millions outside the door and beyond? At these times I feel most centered by the love of my family- past, present and future.

One happily distracting moment this weekend therefore was looking through a scrapbook my great aunt created for my great-grandfather after his 1934 journey to South America aboard the U.S.M.S. "Western World," sailing from NY on Feb, 17th, 1934 through Bermuda-Rio de Janeiro-Santos Montevideo-Buenos Aires.

It appears that my great-grandfather was an avid collector (maybe something I've inherited), as the scrapbook is brimming with menus, maps, schedules, handwritten notes, postcards, photographs (a large majority of naked natives, but I suppose that was quite exhilarating), and entertainment programs.

Some of the photographs and postcards are so beautiful to me:

 

"Neptune's Court" a theatrical production put on by passengers

 

 



Photos and postcards of adventures and wildlife

 

 

Postcard of a "gaucho"

 

"Bolivian Silver"

 



I wish I could chat with him about his journey and how exciting (and maybe exhausting) travelling to such a foreign place might have been for him. There are so many pictures of people, buildings, ships and notes, I feel like he must have been hungry to take in as much as possible, giddy at all of the beauty and wonder of the world. He was travelling when he was in his late 50's or early 60's- maybe he wondered if this was his last hurrah. His daughter pieced everything together with such care and pride, she must have known how much the journey meant to him, and have been excited to preserve it for her father and maybe even for all of us yet-unseen twinkles.

So, maybe we all matter a little bit. At least for a little while. :)