SHE'S LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM

Twenty years ago this month I was blessed to work with an extraordinary colleague in Lithuania. We have kept in touch over the decades and yesterday we finally had a reunion in person in New Jersey. What a happy moment, what an amazing story! Egle (egg-LAY) has lived the classic American dream of an ambitious determined immigrant. From being an exceptional translator in Lithuania, to experience in the U.S. as a caregiver, to taking a job in an inner-city school in New Jersey, to becoming the Principal of that school!

Crazy details include her first assignment ---teaching English to American kids! Leaving her husband and son for months at a time but then bringing them to America to be a whole family again! (Her husband no doubt sacrificed the most.) Being helped out by an Irish-Italian family at every turn! Not wanting to be Principal but taking the job because she could (and did) revitalize the doomed school! Raising a son who arrived wide-eyed at age 14 and is now an honours Fordham graduate at Price-Waterhouse (and also brews beer, has been a caddie, and bought a Mustang with his own earnings)! And more and more. Egle is on the list of Most Distinguished Teachers of America, and seems to be an unstoppable force for progress and optimism with a loving touch. We were overwhelmed and agog at this human dynamo. I am proud to be her friend.

We recovered from the reunion with a walk in peaceful Central Park and bustling Times Square. Then a fast 10-hour drive home today to find that the gardens and trees have grown and blossomed, just like remarkable Egle.