That's my dad on the left, my mom on the right and that's me in the middle. My sister wasn't born yet, so she's not in this picture, sorry Michelle. My dad is a gentle man, rarely gets mad, very smart.  He speaks five languages - Arabic, French, Greek, Spanish and English.

 

He was born in Tanta, Egypt and came to the United States in pursuit of many things, one of them being the American dream - and guess what?  He got it.  A house, a wife, a family, a car and a good career.  

 

I can't imagine how hard that is to do - pick up and leave your family and kind of create a homestead in a new land.  Unfortunately, the second part never happened, that is, the rest of his family following him over.  So my dad did it on his own. I always think of my dad as a brilliant, organized, kind man but what I've discovered is that he is also - courageous. How much courage does it take to strike out on your own, come to a new world with nothing, struggle and build a nice life -  I'll tell you what, much more courage than I'll ever have.