My Persian grandparents are visiting right now.  They left Iran after the 1979 Revolution, and have lived in the United States since then.  My grandfather (Baba) is in his 90s, and my grandmother (Maman) is in her 70s.  They are hilarious and adorable, and I’m so glad I get to spend so much time with them.

Today my mother went with them to the grocery store.  They came home, and as I was putting shoes on to get the groceries from the car, Baba insisted that he wanted to come help get the groceries.

90 years old, and wants to help me, a 24 year old, carry groceries.  Needless to say, I did not let him help me.

I had techno music playing while I cleaned the house.  When they got home, I turned off the music.  Maman says to me, in Farsi, “No, the music is nice!  We are American now, we like it!”

Mom and I went outside and died laughing.

Posted in Family, Humor | Comments (6)

There are so many faces
In each room, I turn and my heart fills
with a million histories
(I remember it all)
There are two ways that I see:
I see your smile
and I feel your soul
there is that.

I felt myself laughing and I could not restrain myself from jumping up and down. In the darkness I saw at least 25 faces that I love, 25 souls that I could not believe I missed so much.

Joy, joy!

They are, dears, they are. They are laughing and crying and I can’t explain why my lips quiver and my heart aches and it is all because I am surrounded by such beautiful everyones.

(I make the English language mine.)

Write a few moments of every day on clean paper, or on the back of your hand. Make notes in the margins, and scratch out anything that makes you sad. Sadness has its place but you all have my heart.

I love you, I love you.

Posted in Friends, Poetry, Travel | Comments (2)

This weekend there shall be a convergence upon Kansas City, KS such as it has never seen.  We are flying, driving, busing, and perhaps even walking to THE wedding of the summer.

Too much?  Nah.

To say that we’re excited about the union of Andrew and Erin would be a bit of an understatement. They are quite loved, and lovely, and then there is the fact that it is also going to be an entire weekend of partying, hanging out with friends that have spread out across the continent over the last few years, and very little sleep.

A road trip with some of my closest friends to reach this wedding, traversing the cornfields of the American Midwest, should yield a number of interesting pictures, which I will post upon my return.

Posted in Friends, Travel | Comments (0)

So if you know of anyone that is hiring, do let me know.    I’ve got a nice little resume and work experience.  Project/Event management type jobs, preferably, but I really don’t know where I’m going to end up.  Quite fun.

That is all I’ve got for today!  Hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer (well, in the northern Hemisphere, anyway.  Trying to remember my global readership.).

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The ingredients in the fridge were perfect for grilling, and so I decided to make a meal of it for the family.

First, I made Persian kabob kubideh and rice. People seem to think that kabob is so difficult, but it really isn’t.

For the vegetables, I decided to get a little creative. I sliced some tomatoes in half and placed them on the grill. I also peeled, sliced, and washed some eggplant, also placing them on the grill. I basted both with melted butter.

As soon as the vegetables were cooked (making sure to turn them over), I placed slices of mozzarella cheese on top. On the tomatoes I placed some leaves of fresh basil, and on the eggplant I put some garlic and fresh cilantro. As soon as the cheese was melted, I took the vegetables off the grill.

And yes, it was delicious.

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It makes me less lonely when my friends are writers: I feel their souls next to me when I read their words.

There are a few things that make me smile, no matter what. At the moment all I can remember is that babies are at the top of that list, but also somewhere in there are the moments in between our words when we can smile in silence.

Speaking of which, silence is only good to me when it is in comfort. At most other times, words or music fill the spaces, and that makes me happy. I love the quickness of words between friends, the back and forth movements, like watching a tennis match between two or four or ten people. The chaos is beautiful.

When the chocolate chip cookies were in the oven tonight, I wanted to keep baking, to hold onto the memories of 11 year old me in the kitchen, and the additional countless past and future times I have been or will be in the kitchen, washing the butter from my hands and waiting impatiently for the end.

Going to the beach makes me revert to a child-like state. I will run into a flock of seagulls, play in the water, and act in a rather frivolous manner. Pray that this never changes.

I have grown quiet in the sense that my words are struggling to fit the things I know and see, the little pieces of the world around me and the things that we cannot see with our physical eyes. Sensing the small changes and the shards of glass and the bottle caps and perfectly cut grass and the sirens and the sun coming in through the window to light up your hair and a giant bowl of ice cream and

wait for it

shaking my head (I’ve lost it).

But there is time for endless lists. Emotions are stored in neat little labeled boxes on a rickety shelf somewhere in the back of my head. The most fiery one is the sense of justice, the most meek the feeling of accomplishment. Somewhere in between and all expansive is love.

Posted in Poetry, Thoughts | Comments (3)

There are things to do. Decisions to be made. I’ve been home for nearly 2 months, and it has been a much needed break from the last few years of work (and before that, school). So…I’m working on that. Being an adult is so strange.

(at the House of Worship)

I had the opportunity to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on Friday night, but have not really watched much else since then. As a child, I remember sitting in front of the television for hours, fascinated by both the summer and winter Olympics.

There are the little everyday things, but I will share those in other ways, in pictures and poetry.

Posted in Personal, Photography, Thoughts | Comments (0)

I am feeling the sweet things, the moments where soft voices merge
and we’re whispering in the dark, with lilies and the sound of old trees
sighing against the wind.

In the in-between time, the familiar pieces of myself jangling jarringly against the other pieces of me.
I have no peace with myself.
We’re wearing sweaters with holes in too many places but I’m okay with the lack of patches:
it lets the sunlight in.
Stand outside with the breeze blowing south and drawing me towards the promise of something. Reflections strike our eyes.
I’ve fallen into the solid forgiveness of knowing without a reason.

Posted in Poetry | Comments (1)

I wish I could see your eyes
sweet whisper
there were colors that danced
and faded into the words

Make sure the ghosts don’t follow me
if the past was gone away
make the dreams pass silently
only in your arms

I wish I knew you
in your silent possibilities
of every hope I had
lost in the growing up of a child

pictures, scraps of fabric, little wooden boxes
dried rose petals
pieces of paper
a library card, a necklace, two notebooks
three postcards
a dress older than me
and my baby blanket in a Japanese box

past

and the future is waiting impatiently
please tell me because I am lost without
some sort of light
too tired to hope
oh I tried and was left behind
and now I smile as I catch roses
waiting for you.

Posted in Poetry | Comments (1)

“Hey man, you gotta wipe the prints.  They find the prints, you’re going to get caught.  You gotta wipe the prints!”

-young man on the phone, crossing the street at State and Randolph, downtown Chicago.

hahahaha, yeah, that was weird.  And oh, I’m back.  Sorry about the problems with the site, all fixed now (thanks, webmaster!).

Posted in Humor | Comments (9)