[jQuery] Finding next/prev node

[Finding_Zion]

I need to have a way to find the next/prev node, be it a sibling,
child, or text node.  For example:

<code>
  <p>
       (1) Some simple text <span class='nextTextNode'>that</span>'s
special.
       (2) And find next Sibling <span class='nextSibling'>sib1</
span><span>sib2</span>
       (3) Finally a child node <span
class='nextChildNode'>Parent<span class='childNode'>Child</span></
span>
  </p>
</code>

It isn't hard to get these options if you knew what you were
selecting, but in my case users will be selecting the html and it
could be anything.  Is there anyway to find the very next node?

My current thought process, is to get the p tag in this example and
pull the contents into an array.  But I don't think this is very
efficient.

A proof of concept is the following code, I would think I'd need to
make this a recursive function, but I don't think this is the right
approach.

 $('p').contents().each(function(){
    if(this.nodeType == 1){// recursive would occur here
        $(this).contents().each(function(){
                console.log(this);
            });
    }
    else{
        console.log(this);
    }
})

Any suggestions that can point me in the right direction would be very
helpful.

Jeremy