The Friday After Thanksgiving.
Yeah, me too.
We had two at the table yesterday, my husband, Paul, and
me. I didn’t cook, but we found a Saltgrass restaurant near us and enjoyed too
much food. We had no dessert. Boo! I
love Lemon Ice Box Pie, and it is easy to make, but I failed to create one, and
we didn’t indulge in the sugary offerings at the restaurant.
We were impressed with the lady who attended our table,
and I’d like to share her story with you. We wished her a happy Thanksgiving,
and then she volunteered her story.
She arrived in Houston four months ago from Cuba. Her
entire family came legally to America, and she told us how grateful she is to live
here. Her name is Helen, and she and the family waited a long time to come. She was excited to spend her first
Thanksgiving in America, and she doesn’t take the privilege for granted. She said, “Young people who haven’t lived in
other countries don’t understand what they have in America.”
After we left the restaurant, we drove to the memory
care facility where our daughter, Shelley resides. In times past, we brought her
to our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but those days are over. She’s too feeble now.
Her medical aide, Ajuan, was taking care of her. He managed
to get her up to walk around for a bit, and we were happy to see her out of the
wheelchair.
Ajuan is from Egypt, and he was a doctor in his
country. He now works as a medical aid while he takes US courses for
accreditation. He arrived in Houston nine months ago, and he spoke no English,
but he is a whiz at English now.
I asked him why he left Egypt. “Too many wars in and
around my country,” he said. And then he
went on to tell us how grateful he is to reside in America. His words mimicked
the conversation we had at the restaurant with the female server.
I suspect if more Americans had lived in other
countries like Helen or Ajuan, we would have more rallies cheering the goodness
in America rather than multiple protests for her flaws.
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