The barter system can be a useful means of which to exchange your services or goods for the services or goods of another in a manner that benefits both parties. That very system is the reason my wife and I found ourselves in New York City a few weeks ago. My brother-in-law, Mike offered to fly us to NYC in exchange for watching their children for a week this summer while he and my wife’s sister, Kim, take a trip to Europe.

Mike had airline tickets and a place to stay to barter in exchange for my time, which I tend to have an abundance of during the summer months, so it was a done deal. My wife and I had never been to NYC and enjoyed roaming about for a few days taking in a small slice of the Big Apple.

The highlight of the trip for Dawn was ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza. It was enjoyable and while we skated around a bride and groom fresh from the chapel were getting a few wedding pictures taken at center ice and another guy proposed to his girlfriend. A banner evening for cupid at Rockefeller Plaza.

Number one on my list of things to do in NYC was to visit Ellis Island where my great grandfather, Joseph Gins started his life in America in 1909 at the age of 15. It was a wonderful experience and being where he had been so many years before got me a little misty eyed. I couldn’t imagine leaving my home, family, and all I had ever known and heading out alone to the unknown at the age of 15, or any age for that matter.

There was a quote hanging on the wall at Ellis Island from an immigrant who said when she was leaving Germany her mother cried and said it was like putting her child in a coffin. Like my great grandfather, she never saw her mother again. The lengths a parent will go in the hopes of providing their child a better life are extraordinary.

I felt a very strong painful stirring of emotion after reading that quote and thinking of my own children and putting myself in that position. It took some strong people living in some bad situations to make that selfless sacrifice. I’m thankful my great-great-grandparents made that sacrifice and I often wonder what it must have been like in the weeks leading up to their son’s departure.

New York City has a lot to offer, and I am looking forward to another visit someday. What I found most amazing was while you walk through the city you travel through various countries. You’ll find yourself walking through the bustling fish markets in Chinatown, cross the street and the mood, sights and sounds instantly transport you to Italy.

The sights and possibly the smell of the fish market in Chinatown may have been a deciding factor in our choice of Italian dining. My sister-in-law’s stomach, queasy from the rancid omelet I bought her on Wall Street, had to work hard to keep its contents on the down low as we strolled by the sea world armageddon of the Chinatown fish markets. Those Pollocks are tough and she soldiered on through China to Italy.

It was a good trip, and although Mike and Kim’s children may disagree, a good barter.