Earth, Rain, Heaven

It is raining. A cold rain that makes her shiver. She is all wet, a big drop of water falls from her hair once in a while. She does not mind at all it seems. She is walking with her head down to earth, her eyes following her feet, and her feet following all the puddles of water. Things seem too complicated now, too hard to comprehend, and the rain seems the tiniest matter of focus. Or is it? She suddenly lifts up her head to the sky. She cannot keep her eyes open under the rain drops, but manages at last with a hard squinch. It seems as if the whole sky has opened up and each and every drop is falling aiming at her, as if she is the center of it all...
She smiles at the heavens.

No Description

Family rollercoaster

Throwing the spoon: steaming
Finishing his meal at the table: pleasant

Another accident: disappointing
Running to bathroom and finishing the job all by himself: prideful

Screaming for his desirous mater: painful
Talking politely with a tilted head: lovable

Throwing the toy train: unwatchable
Cleaning up after his play: rejoicing

Reading a book out loud by himself: lovely
Waking up singing: sweat
Running to you to tell all about cracking his egg all by himself: endearing
Paddling a bend flawlessly: prideful
Show desire to learn: hopeful
Arranging the silverware on the table: adorable
Saying hi to the cashier lady: nice
A: the whole definition of LOVE

Other's Opinion

I got a couple minutes to browse the Globe and Mail newspaper that was left for me on Saturday before checking out of my room this morning. A red shoe picture caught my attention on top of one of the pages that read “Your Feet Will Love You Page 7”. So I turned to page seven where in the middle of the page there was The Weekend Horoscope. I though it might be fun to check what the stars had to tell me “this weekend”. And here is what I found under Sagittarius: “Other people’s ideas and opinions may have a lot to commend them but your own are so much better. They may at times be a little bit out of the ordinary but that’s part of the attraction – others expect you to be different, even outrageous. Don’t disappoint them.” Oh I started laughing by myself in reference to my last post regarding the other people’s opinion and how it had gotten in to my nerve and how M and SK and VH were actually very much encouraging towards my own ideas. I think I should be happy again with my outrageous ideas despite others :)

Fun Vancouver

My feet have blisters now but I still need to wear my high hills tomorrow. The practicum was very good today. This is amazing how I get to talk to interesting people in these kind of venues. I had to confess about the age of my son, the duration of my marriage, another confession I will not note here, and my age to a 26 year old. In the end of the day an opinion of a person made me thoughtful, not very much fun. I talked about it with M when I got back to the hotel and got nothing but support and yet I was sad, so I realized I had missed some thing badly and then decided to listen to "going to Ca". It was amazing how soothing it was! I am really living in another era being addicted to such old classics! It was nice though that SHK, who is one year younger than I am, was listening to one of my favorite old old songs when I got into his car last night to go to his parents' place; he also knew Led Zeppelin and he recognized the ring tone of my cell phone: niaaz. So I am not the only one enjoying the old themes. I find art in them, and some thing I cannot fully explain.

I had dinner with SK and VH tonight; sharing the rotten opinion I had heard earlier and chatting with old friends were really calming. We walked in Stanley Park for more than an hour; I was wearing my sneakers which made me yearning to run but I did not. Very beautiful park by the way which resembled the park side of Zenderoud River to me and I could enjoy an ice cream there... Next time when I will be here with M hopefully, and A can have a blue scoop if he wanted...

Later in the evening I got out again to meet my second cousin. She is a very nice lady who reminded me of another second cousin... Family is really precious!

From Vancouver

I got here in the mid afternoon to attend a two-day practicum over the weekend. Vancouver looks like a beautiful city so far. My hotel is by the Fraser River harbor and at check in the receptionist decided to promote my room and gave me a harbor-facing room with a lovely view. On the other side of the river there are mountains and on the top of the further summits you can detect white snow. I am truly enjoying it with a big chunk missing: M&A.

I got to meet my second cousin BKH and his family tonight; we had only talked on the phone before and he always sounded very warm and friendly and he truly was, so was his wife. I got to meet his son and his daughter-in-law who are in the same age range as I am. I loved them all. I also met their friend who was visiting from Ottawa, PJ, a very interesting guy who could speak Xhosa.

I had forgotten how polite and friendly Canadians are.

My Mother's Day Sunday

It was the first year I felt really like it was my day, not only my mom's! Interestingly when this morning I reminded S, that it was Mother's Day during our family chat that occurs every Sunday morning she informed that our mom was not attending the family chat so we could not congratulate her North American Mother's Day. It took her some time to realize that she could congratulate me too ;) Last year we were all in Canada for the mother's day, my mom, S, A, and me. I was happy that I was with my mom that day. S bought us each a purse which was a very sweet act of hers as sweet as she always is.
My mother's day really started on Friday with an orange flower from work, and then messages and phone calls from friends and families, it was really nice of them all. Today my M had arranged us/me a very nice day: We had a very peaceful brunch at our favorite brunch place late in the morning. Then we went to the mall to buy my present which M could not buy without my presence: a new pair of sunglasses! I had just bought a pair, but they are white and rather cheap. M thought they were not suiting all of my outfits which was so true. I love the new pair A gave me today, no need to say.
We had a very nice afternoon resting in our family bed; I was reading my new book! M and A were reciting poems. A was especially a sweet son today; plus he had less "accidents" for the day.
Early evening we all went for a run/walk/stroll around the block. I was running away from M and A for the duration of a song I was listening to and then running back to them during the second song the way M had suggested. At the third song A decided to join me. I had no idea he could run so fast! I was proud and happy to find him such a fit runner!
After his bath this evening and listening to dad's stories A slept like a charm, being so tired of the run of course!
It was a great Sunday I did not want it to end! ... Happy Mother's Day to all MOMS!

Another Time

I am strangely powerful and sleepless tonight. I slept only a few hours last night while I was still recovering from a cold, worked five hours today, ran errands, played with A, spent the evening with my family at our relatives' in Walnut Creek, drafted A's birthday party, reviewed a family matter with my M, and yet I feel no need to rest! Things, those that were not in place, have fundamentally changed.
This is the strange beauty of life I adore: There is a time for weakness; I got to the very bottom I cautiously chose not to try any longer, I accepted the limits; and as soon as I really really let go of it, it got resolved in a way I would have never imagined... It is so heartwarming; I trust the Intelligent Love that holds the whole being.

Our midterm paper got through properly. Our midterm meeting with Jan went very well on Friday. I am pleased and thankful.

A practically flooded the bathroom. Apparently he filled the bathroom sink with torn pieces of paper towel while the water facet was on. The whole bathroom floor and carpets in there got wet and I still don't know why there is no drain in the bathrooms! Per M all these happened in 10 minutes. Luckily I was not home, I just saw the pictures of the ocean of paper towels!

Before that A and M were playing while sitting on our bed this morning. M's tummy started rumbling and A got curious about the noise. M said it was his tummy rumbling. A few minutes later apparently there was no surprising sound any more, A concluded: "Daddy! Is the thunderstorm in your tummy over?"
The real story happened in Farsi actually, when M had said "delam ghaar o ghoor mikone" and later A concluded "baabaa! ghoorbaaghehe raft?"