Paw on the Heart and Hoping For Something To Blossom in a Connecticut Transition. @AbuBility

This photo is from the summer when Abu was working online filling out an application - one of many as he transitions from a post-Brockport life.

Glamis blessed his heart as he typed in hopes of landing one of the man jobs he applied for.

That was two months ago, and today he returns to Connecticut via Greyhound; he should be in New Haven by 4:30 p.m. - an interview to follow on Wednesday.

Phew.

I've always known transitions from high school to college are something, but the one from college to real world is a lot more difficult. The unknowing is intense.

Yet, knowing he is returning, I went through my online journals to rethink how far the two of us have come. I'm laughing to see the post I made when he wanted me to pick him up to try out for a traveling soccer team. It was July 8, 2009, although I spent the previous 5 months working with him at his high school in Syracuse.

Now I laugh to think of the family our Liberian-American lives have become (a sampling follows):

• volleyball matches between Syracuse and Louisville.
• seeing Invictus,
• filling in my pool-hole on Eastman Avenue,
• a first visit to Connecticut,
• Holidays, 
• Essay,
• Citizenship,
• Aliens,
• Halle Barry,
• Nikki Giovanni,
• Glue Sticks,
• Up In Smoke,
• Summer Hope, and
• Graduation.

For the past 7 years, Abu and Lossine have been very much a part of what I write on a daily basis, and the links above are only some f the influences they've had on my life.

And now we will see what comes next. 

I know Glamis looks forward to having her buddy back in the house, and I'm excited to think that the young man who has been in my world since 2009 is possibly about to embark on a new journey close to my home. Here's to his safe travels. I'm looking forward to seeing him once again.