my dad arrived in America exactly 30 years ago today. he knew not a single person in NYC and had just a couple of hundred American dollars to his name. at our celebratory dinner last night, i asked him whether, knowing what he knows now, he would have done things differently. he said no— that he has just as much hope and love for the country now as he did three decades ago. i say this often: he’s the biggest patriot i know. the only thing he wonders about? he questions what it would have been like had he chose the English lit doctorate program at the University of Iowa (which he turned down) instead of the one at Columbia. might he have been able to see the program through instead of dropping out to work and make the NYC rent? ...how different our story might have been. then again, how identical it very well might have remained. ❤️‍🩹