Repetitive words

My friend Zuhair calls him “some one to look after you”.
Farzana instead prefers calling him “Mr Right”. She always has dreaming eyes when saying those words.
My aunties, uncles, family friends (average age 55+), they just say “Someone”, hopefully without the implied meaning “Anyone please”.
I like to call him “Prince Charming on a white horse”. Every time I say it, I laugh.
Cos I think of Shrek, the movie, the first one, where Prince Charming is on a white horse but he almost needs stairs to get on top of it!

My friends and family they all seem so worried for me.
The fatal question always comes after the usual “How are you?”. If I start betting on it, I may be able to stop working. May be I should.
I know they cannot avoid it. It is part of the cycle of life: you are born, you grow up, go to school, meet people, find a job, get married, have kids, teach them what you have learnt, die. It works in stages.
According to my family and friends I should hurry up for the “get married” stage.
Unfortunately, I do enjoy the “meet people” one. Plus I did not do well with the “find a job” one. And I did try. Maybe it did not like me.

By now (since it has been years that I am asked the same thing) I got used to the “So… tell me.. did you find someone?”. I know, those words will come up, always.
My answers vary according to my mood.
A good mood answer would be “I am working on it”.
A bad mood answer would be instead “Can we change subject?”
I remember once, back home, the priest of my village asked me that exact question.
“No Father, not yet”. “C’mon, what are you waiting for?!” And I replied “ For Providence to look down and help me out!”.I know, that was a bad mood answer, especially if you consider the expression on his face. But at least he stopped asking it.

Catch-up

I just got back home, the taste of shisha (apple tobacco.. my favourite!) still in my mouth.
I spent a few hours with a really good friend of mine.
Last time we met was four or five months ago. We both have busy lives, although he says I am the one who has always something else to do.
We needed and we wanted a catch-up.
“So how is life been treating you?”. None of us could complain.
For the whole evening he had a smile on his face while talking to me. He has his good reasons for it.
He found a wife, he is getting married next summer, he is busy finding a place for himself and his wife-to-be (her name is Amira, it means Princess in Arabic), he has a good job, wondering if it would be better to get another Master’s degree or a PhD.
And then my turn came.

I told him my plans for the next couple of years, or until this world economic crisis gets to an end. He questioned me a lot, I suppose to test how grounded my decisions were.
He has the ability to ask just the right questions and to listen to my 5-minutes monologues. With him I simply open up, it just happens naturally.
Like when you pick up a book and after glancing through the pages, you choose one and start reading it. When I am with him, I am that book.
He is very patient and wise. He is like an older brother to me, someone who always cares for and prays for me to be happy.
His door is always open for me. Being his friend is one of the fortunes of my life.

Let it snow

It all started a couple of days ago.
Early morning, my alarm clock went on and I switched on my mobile. I was not happy about it, but I know I cannot spend the whole day in bed.
Few seconds later the sound of a text message. “Show?” Yes. “Open?” Yes. “Salaam, it is SNOWING”.
I got up and had a look from my window.
My friend was right: thick white flakes of snow were coming down from the sky.
Usually snow has a relaxing effect: you look at it coming down, it covers everything with its white colour and you feel an overwhelming sense of peace. Silence reigns. That morning though, I had quite a different feeling. The wind was pushing and pulling those poor immaculate flakes with such violence that they were flinging at the soil rather than resting gently.
It was freezing, of course.
I took my mobile and replied to the message: “I may stay in bed a little longer then..”
And that is exactly what I did.

This morning, when I woke up everything was covered with 15 cm of snow. And it was still snowing. According to the weather forecast tomorrow will be even worse. I keep my fingers crossed for a lot of snow. So I will stay in bed a little longer tomorrow morning too.