One Houston dad who was helping his daughter move to college is making the best out of not being able to return to Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
After a weekend family trip to New Hampshire, Enock Anassi decided to help his wife move his daughter, Kerubo, to New York to start her first year of graduate studies at The New School. But because of the flooding, her parents couldnβt immediately return to Houston. So they stayed to help their daughter find an apartment.
Keruboβs brother, Omete, told HuffPost via email that when their parents went to drop her off at class on Tuesday, Enock joked that heβd be staying for the dayβs lesson.
βThe plan was for them to wait outside her class until she finished and then they get on the road, but my father proceeded to follow my sister into the elevator and to her oral history class,β Omete said. βInitially my sister thought it was funny, but then got very upset and embarrassed when the joke didnβt end and my father didnβt leave. He proceeded to stay in class the entire time, get a syllabus, take audible pictures (never turning his phone on silent), and quizzing my sister constantly on the information being taught.β
Enock sent a selfie of him in class with Kerubo to their family group chat, which Omete shared on Twitter. Judging from her replies in the screenshot, Kerubo was a little annoyed with her new classmate.
Ometeβs tweet quickly went viral. As of Thursday, it has more than 40,000 retweets and 139,000 likes. The New School even tweeted its support and offered Enock a free shirt.
Omete told HuffPost that the response has been amazing but his dad has βno clueβ about the attention heβs getting. βHe just keeps telling my sister to focus on her studies (quizzing her on the information from that day of class),β he added.
Though Kerubo would probably prefer to keep her dad out of her classes, Omete said theyβre just happy their family isnβt in harmβs way.
βThe best part is that my family is safe and not in the hurricane,β Omete said. βOur relatives are currently in Houston battling Hurricane Harvey (safe, but trapped in uncomfortable places like shelters, friendsβ homes, work, etc.) and despite how embarrassed and irritated my sister was, she is completely pleased to have our parents there with her instead of in danger.β