The thank-you.

Last night whilst supping on Singapore Mei Fun and Hot and Sour soup at Dragon Express with my buddy Nori a man bringing his own dinner to his table stopped and looked at me intently.
I began to wonder if I had a piece of tree fungus hanging off of my goatee, or, worse still, since my sinuses had cleared in the heat of the curried treat, that I had soiled my mustache with snot. He looked familiar, so familiar.

He came up to me, and I braced myself for what he'd say.

"You're Domonic, right?"

I replied that, indeed, I was. He brightened considerably and put down his food at the adjacent table and told me his name. Yes, now I knew who it was. I'd worked this summer like a dog to get this guy a travel document so he could apply for a visa. As was abundantly apparent, it had worked.

"Hey man, the only reason I am here is because of you. You worked really hard for me and I want to thank you very much. "

Fuzziness!

When you work with so many people, it's easy to forget that you make such a big impact on people's lives sometimes. The advice we give, the time we take to make sure people have the best shot that they can at staying and studying here, it all makes a difference. I told him that, indeed, many people gave of themselves so that he could be here. The behind-the-scenes work is what really makes all of it possible. But he knew that I had stayed with him, and kept him in the loop, and he appreciated that greatly. It's not that hard to make yourself realize that helping people who need it can be rewarding. He then said that we had one of the best offices on campus, and that working with us made him feel better about being so far from home.

After all, isn't that why so many of us do this?

One day this summer, one of my "helped" people came to me and brought me real Indian rice pudding. I just about cried. Just when you think that you are making no difference in this world, you are proved wrong. Somewhere on the humid subcontinent, that man and his wife may tell their friends that IU has a great international office, and they may think of sending their children here. How sublime.

Well, off to Ottoman. Sigh.

Have a great one, Indiana.

Dom