quarter of a century

we celebrated our friend amed's 25th birthday last nite. this guy is amazing. he came to australia 5 years ago on a temporary protection visa from iraq. he apparently didn't know a word of english when he arrived-- i find this hard to believe because he speaks english as if he's been speaking it most of his life (a girl last nite knew him when he first arrived and she assured me that he didn't know a word when he came to her!!). he's been through horrible, unimaginable things in his life but despite all of this he is quite a positive person. he's also extremely caring and shares all he has (which isn't much by a lot of people's standards but for someone who came to australia with absolutely nothing, what he has now is a lot and he loves to share it with his friends). it was amazing at his party last nite. we were in the upstairs of a resturant and he had about 30 friends there (all of whom he refered to as his "wonderful brothers" and "beautiful sisters"). not many of us knew eachother beforehand but everyone we talked to there was really interesting and it was kinda cool that we were all connected thru amed (and at least 1 person came down from canberra for his birthday!!). he's a great guy. before he even knew me he gave zac small gifts to give to me and he's bought wombat gifts too (he's still never met her but he always asks about her). he always insists on paying when we go out for coffee. before zac left his old job he got the ball rolling for amed to get into public housing. just a couple weeks ago he moved into a commision flat near here and he's loving it! he's a pretty amazing guy and i'm looking forward to our next coffee or dinner with him.