During the recent election, I was a poll-worker on a team of 11 people. Because it was raining HARD, we didn't have many voters the first day, so we all got to know one another. One of us was a very quiet man who held back a little and made me curious. So...I caught him in a quiet moment and learned that he and his wife had been among the very last escapees from Afghanistan! His wife is a well-educated physician and they knew the Taliban would never let her practice, nor could they trust in her safety.

So, in an amazing bit of luck, they managed to get out of there...and come to the US. He told me how harrowing that had been and how happy they are to be here now.

I hugged him hard and cried. We take a lot for granted in this troubled nation but his story reminded me why people like them want to get here!

My mother's mother came to the US at age 10 from Germany, more than 100 years ago.