Anyone who has spent more than five minutes talking to me can guess what my first blog will be about: No, not cars, but that’s close!
It will be about my Mother.
I always thought that moments of physical separation are the hardest. That if you could pull yourself through that last goodbye, and let go of the warm embrace of a loved one, and survive, then you’ll be fine! Little did I know, that separation gets you when it hurts the most, and when you expect it the least. When a humongous dog runs towards you, and you and you choke screaming: Mamy!!!!! But then she’s not there. Or when the African beats in the drum circle in downtown DC bring an overwhelming sense of home, but then home is truly, and literally, where your Mother is.
Interestingly, the number of things my mother has in common with the average American person is striking. Or perhaps when you are inundated by the love of something, you see it everywhere. The talkative, outgoing, fun-loving, goodhearted, kind, loud, and even angry Americans, all remind me of my mother. The patriotism, the respect for the history, each monument, painting, and sculpture is all somehow resembling my mother.
Although I am a strong believer that as long as your mother is alive, you should seize every opportunity to abuse and overdose on loving her, and being loved by her, because it is really the only natural thing to do. But, I am now quite sure that I will grow more in this single year than my past years because my safety net is now thousands of miles away. And the space between us will be filled with courage and determination to show the world what Afaf had made: Me!
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