Click. Beautiful, Daniel thought as he captured the Vietnamese dish in front of him. Daniel had set out on an journey to his mother’s native land country to capture bits and pieces of life in Vietnam. Daniel had hoped this trip would offer him some newfound life perspective, or perhaps life purpose. While the country was rich in culture and sights to see, and he had already captured numerous photographs of the bustling streets, wildlife, and mom and pop restaurants that served amazing authentic dishes such as Pho with meatballs, green onions, thin white noodles, and red strips of beef that slowly cooked all inside a heavenly broth. Daniel wondered if his mother had ever eaten here, and felt drawn to the past and the stories she had shared with him. Apparently her mother had trained in martial arts here in Vietnam, and Daniel wanted to track down her instructor. He had kept in touch with his mother for many years, and she had given Daniel the man’s address. Daniel had called him once over the phone, and though the man’s voice was gruff and abrupt, he seemed genuinely interested in meeting with Daniel, and they had made plans for dinner two days after Daniel had arrived in Vietnam. The dinner was that night, and after stopping at some local shops to pass the time, Daniel became quite nervous upon the meeting. He began to think of questions he would ask the man, but realized most of them circled around his mother. While he was very interested in getting to know what his mother was like as a young woman, he tried to shift more of his focus on the man he was meeting himself. Who is this guy? Where were you born? What was your childhood like? Daniel thought to himself. He felt that knowing the background of this man would add to the novel he (hoped) to be able to write. If there was a story to write, that is. Hopefully he isn’t as taciturn as he was over the phone. In any case, he was interested in the album of photos the man had with his mother in them along with his other students. The wandering thought of the slight possibility of his father being in one of them came to Daniel’s head, but he quickly shooed it away. He did not expect any new information regarding his father. He had scoured the Earth and had come up with nothing, and considered it a dead end subject. Not even his mother knew who his father was, she was embarrassed to admit. She did not give him any details, only that he would likely still be in Vietnam. He had been conceived around the time she had been training with the man he was to meet, and though his mother wouldn’t like it, he felt he must at least try to pry some information out of her instructor. Even if there was a chance of getting closer to the knowledge of his long lost father, Daniel wanted to know. He felt it was a missing piece of history to his puzzle he called his life, and his mother had done little to fuel his imagination. She had tried to tell him it didn’t matter, and that she was the only family he needed. That answer wasn’t enough for Daniel. And so, he set out for Vietnam not only to take pictures, but to get closer to the mystery surrounding his birth as well as the past of his mother. He wanted to know where he had come from, what his roots were. He hoped the trip wouldn’t be a disappointment. As he got dressed for dinner, he tried to think of subtle ways he could hint at asking about the romantic relationships his mother had had at that time. He doubted it would be many, and felt that was the best start to track down information. The book could be about my mother, and from there I could go and interview all the young men in my mother’s life. There, that’s it! It is perfect excuse. Not only that, but it would make a great novel, and I will have plenty of photographs to illustrate the trip. Daniel got his camera together and closed the door behind him.