Abraham

I am an extremely fortunate person. I have wonderful parents.  The type that did all the right things like put education first, would not allow Liz and I to eat junky cereals or white bread or any type of junk food really, allowed us to pick one t.v. show a week to watch.  I remember watching a lot of The Cosby Show and PBS's Mystery series,  mostly Sherlock Holmes.  Because of Nancy and Steve I feel I know certain parts of Maine intimately.  From Nancy I have learned so much like the art of giving and an appreciation for a wide range of folk art and the handmade craft. And Nancy thank you, by the way, for an unhealthy addiction to pottery.  You've created a monster.  My point is I'm am lucky to lead the life I do.  After family and friends  (the O'Connor/Rushes are really family) I feel my greatest fortune is to work with people that lead lives different from my own.  I work with people that have sacrificed everything, and I mean everything, to come to this great country to live, work, and raise their family.  I work with people that work at SMU and then go to their full time night job.  And they are happy all day.  But the greatest gift of all has been to know Abraham Riak and Simon Koul.  I have worked with Abraham for over five years now.  Abraham is my age.  He came to the U.S. from Sudan about 10 years ago through the efforts of Dallas-based missionaries.  He came with a group of other boys- Lost Boys.  Abraham does not talk about what he left behind.  He doesn't really talk about himself at all.  I do know that Simon's past involved refugee camps.  And Simon's wife's story involves running on foot, at the age of 13, for months with her sibblings and cousins, dead parents, stepping over dead bodies, going from camp to camp, meeting Simon in one camp, and ultimately making it here.  Abraham has always been single but he wanted a wife.  He traveled to Australia one summer to meet a Sudanese girl that had relocated there with other people from their tribe.  They didn't hit it off.  He didn't give me the details.   Two years later he went back to Sudan for several months.  He met a woman and married her and impregnated her.  He missed the birth of his son.  I am leaving out a lot but over a year of paperwork and bloodtests later Abraham was reunited with his wife and son.  I met them both last Friday.  It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  Thank you Abraham.