Shokufeh is... home

Excitement is building

A week from today, we'll be on the mainland! Yay! More importantly, we'll be seeing family and friends. It's been more than 1.5 years since we've visited Chicago, our home before here, or New Orleans, my home for the majority of my life. In the interim, we've seen family members - my Mom and Anis in China last spring, Meisa in San Francisco last Labor Day weekend, Sam's family in Orlando last December, my parents and Anis in Israel in March* - but this trip will have the added benefit of being visits to "home."

And my parents get to see their grandchild, or rather the belly that is housing him or her. We all traveled together on pilgrimage, but none of us knew Bean was present at the time. All we knew was that I was burping a lot and kept asking my mom for Lemon Altoid Sours.

And I get to see my Ameh**, who is making a trip to Chicago to see her only child, and to see my belly. I have never gone this long in my life without seeing my Ameh - she was with my parents in the hospital when I was born and after she moved away from Louisiana, I visited her at least once a year.

Now if I could only see Naysan. That hasn't happened since December 2003. That's just crazy in the Family Mojgani.

*I seem to be into the asterisks these days. Listing these out makes me feel like we travel a lot, and that I live a charmed life being able to travel to such places. I guess that's one of the advantages of having a far-flung family.

**Note to you new readers: "Ameh" is the title for paternal aunt in Persian. I have only one Ameh, Meisa's mother. She is very proud of being my only Ameh. And when my brothers have children and I become an Ameh, my Ameh will become the only Ameh of an only Ameh.

Posted by Shokufeh at July 29, 2005 06:59 PM