... hilarious character from Ghana. He had 'run away' at the age of fourteen and stowed away on a freighter headed to Italy, He lived in Italy for a few years, and then managed to get to Washington D.C. where he married an American woman and worked his way through college. She then left him unexpectedly, taking all of their belongings with her (while he was at school studying.) But he at least had his U.S. green card and was eligible for citizenship in the future. And so he forged ahead, eventually ending up in graduate school at Oklahoma University. He completed his degree and was working in the Planning Division when I was hired. - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

He wasn't much older than I was, but his amazing life up to that point had given him the perspective of a wisened older person. He often spoke of his 'Grandma Bonzi' in Ghana, to whom he continued to send money and useful items (such as a corn grinder) to help her survive as an elderly person in the challenging Ghanaian economic conditions. I always admired him for this. Whenever we encountered a difficult planning issue (usually related to some racist, anti-planning redneck who considered us all 'commies' for trying to prevent his cattle/hog feedlot from being situated immediately adjacent to a large residential community, or an as-yet-unpolluted lake or stream) he always had some wise saying that his Grandma Bonzi had spoken while he was young. "Better the devil you know than the angel you don't..." was a favorite. (A variation on the religious proverb "Better the devil you know than the one you don't.) There were many others, most of which I can't recall in specific at the moment. - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

I knew the 'Ed' (a variation on his given name) was a special kind of genius, always scheming to develop a 'get rich quick' plan and escape the humdrum life of a planner. He had his own shirt logo copywrited so that--once he had worked a deal with General Mills--he could produce a line of golf/sport shirts to compete with the then popular Izod brand. We laughed at this because we knew of General Mills as a maker of breakfast cereals, and thought he was seriously misinformed. We had to 'eat crow' when we later found out that General Mills did indeed have a textile mill division, which included making the fabric for sport shirts. This idea never panned out, but he was always seeing possibilities that the rest of us didn't, because--I believe--we were blinded by our 'traditional' experience. I tried to take a lesson from this. - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

And then one day, Ed wasn't at work. He missed the entire week, and only then did our boss inform us that he was seriously ill with pancreatitis. I had no idea that this could be a very serious, even fatal condition. Thankfully, he came through it, weaker and looking much thinner, but still with unbridled optimism and enthusiasm. Afterward, he told me that he had experienced this condition earlier in his life, and he believed he was going to die. After surviving that episode, he assumed it was only a matter of time before it struck again, so he went on one of those "bucket list" benders, spending money like there was no tomorrow (because there wasn't, at least to him) and maxing out credit cards to do all of the things he hadn't allowed himself to do up to that point. But then he kept 'surviving'... and the chickens came home to roost, as they say. - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

He was seriously in debt, apparently WASN'T going to die in the near future, and now had a large set of problems to deal with, mostly of his own making. That is what led him to get his graduate degree, become a planner and hopefully soon become a big time entrepreneur. Except that didn't happen (the entrepreneur part, that is.) He met a woman, an American. He bought a house, and he had a child "Little Ed" as we called him. He became a 'traditional' family man, and was living very much like I was. I tried to take meaning from all of this for myself. What did it mean? Was this a *good* thing? It was good for Ed, by all appearances. He was happy. Little Ed was the joy of his life. So, yes, I think it was good. And I learned something from that. Maybe I hadn't done some of the amazing, wild, and perhaps even stupid things that Ed had done. I certainly DIDN'T have the worldly experience that he had gained in such a short time. But that was okay. We don't *have* to push the limits to an extreme to know what is important. We don't *have* to die at a young age to prove something. - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

It has now been nearly 30 years since I moved on from OKC, and I haven't been in touch with Ed for much of that time. I've heard through friends that he went on to get his law degree, and now helps other immigrants navigate the complexities of the U.S. immigration process. I also suspect that he is still scheming and holds onto a dream of someday showing the world that he has great ideas. But I already know that. And I am forever grateful for those few years that I was able to learn from this 'master of living life." - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

#SaturdayFF #EarlyVersion - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

p.s. Ed also taught me one other lesson: The Ghanaians and the Nigerians don't get along very well. Whether it be soccer or politics, they are almost automatically at odds. To express this in a very concise manner, Ed was fond of saying "Those Nigerians... THEY DON'T TAKE THEIR SHOWERS!" Soon enough, I would repeat this to him when certain news items popped up with regard to Nigeria. But then one day I said this in an off-the-cuff manner while in a mixed group (culturally and racially.) There was rather stunned silence. And in that moment, I realized that context is very important. It is (perhaps) okay for a Ghanaian to make humorously disparaging remarks about people from the country neighboring his homeland, but it is most definitely NOT okay for a lily white American to adopt those same lines for his own use! #kindaliketheNword - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

Anyway, long story short (after the fact)... I hope you all meet an 'Ed' sometime in your life. You'll be a better person for it. - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

p.p.s. Like most 'stream-of-consciousness' stories that I relate here (or anywhere, for that matter) this recount of a good memory suffers from something we might term "main point migration." By that I mean that the story that we ended up with, while true, is not the story that I intended at the start. New things popped into my head along the way, and they seemed somehow at least as relevant as the ones I started with. So please forgive the telltale meandering that is undoubtedly present. That's just the way I roll. - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

Thanks for sharing!! - esther

I don't mind a little meandering....I really enjoyed this! - Starmama from FFHound(roid)!