Contemplations...before...
For Leena; In Memoriam
They say pictures speak a thousand words…and they do. A Christmas family photo; in it, you seem to have persevered; Bashir gone, and you’re a single mother in your thirties, caring for three young girls and smiling, your contagious, one-of-a-kind Leena grin. I remember that Christmas like it was yesterday. Sixteen years ago, I came back after an absence of two years. I saw my father for the last time that year in Amman. You were welcoming. Your warmth, your words and a candlelit dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant, like I had only left a week before. At the end of our meal, you gave me this photo. ‘Our Christmas photo’, you said. I cherished it. Years later, and two years after you were gone, Tala would frown back at the frowning face of her 7 year-old-self, staring at her. It nonetheless amused her. At times, walking my dog in the dark, I stare at the sky, and it almost seems like you can be near. I had stopped questioning. The interrogation had drained an...