We met John, Mariam and their children Eva and Arian years ago. It was back in Malaysia, when Amalia was just starting Prep Reception. The class was packed with faculty children but there were a couple kids in there that didn't belong to that category. Eva was one of those kids. It didn't take long for birthdays to start popping up and, as one does when children are very young, they became catalysts for parent interaction while trying to ensure that the children had fun without getting hurt. One such birthday at our place brought John with Eva (then 3 years old) to our apartment building's pool in Kuala Lumpur. Then came other events and, over time, a friendship blossomed that seemed to be build with every passing day. John and Mariam spoke very highly of Dubai, where they had arrived from, and though we were hardly impressed with the idea of such a place, we listened to their stories and shared our own. All the while the children were growing. Prep Reception gave way to Prep Junior, which gave way to Prep Senior and, throughout those years our friendship solidified. John and Mariam were quite the party throwers, as it turned out, and they were always happy to have visitors, the true unpacking of their Ecuadorian and Iranian cultural heritage and upbringing. And so, while the kids played and learned to be friends, so did the parents.
Then, in a fortuitous twist of fate we decided to move to Dubai. This was received with much more enthusiasm by John and Mariam than it had with us, and they told us even more stories about the great times in Dubai. Then, a few months later, they brought news to us... they too were moving to Dubai! And so, with a summer separating our end and beginnings, we reorganized our social selves on this end of the world. The kids continued to go to school together for another four years and the parents, using the children as a pretext, found ways to also share their lives and stories too. The bonus for us, of course, is that they had returned to Dubai to re-connect with friends who were gracious enough to accept us into the fray as well. The ever-growing friendly seemed to take on a whole different depth when we finally got to "that point" where we could allow ourselves to give each other a hard time about things, from personality traits to cultural heritage. The banter became almost daily and the intellectual battles between the Greeks and Persians seemed to continue, over 2000 years after they began. You know when you've reached "that point" because you can say what you want and know that the other will just look up and give it right back. And so began the argument about yogurt. Of course all sorts of people will argue the history of yogurt, but in our case the conversation was purely between the two cultures. With the advent of social media and 4G communication, it was only a matter of time before a WhatsApp group, aptly named "Yorurt by Any Other Name" was created, to house our ongoing disagreements and celebrations.
Then the rumors began. John had found a job - possibly - in Vienna. It would take a while to see if would work out. And work out it did. Then things got delayed, to our joy. :-). Then COVID hit, meaning that the department became a stress as much as a silver lining of extra time with them. But as much as we hoped the day would never arrive, and after seven years of wonderful memories and shared friendship, they day came for them to head out to their next chapter, without us this time. We drove them to the airport and there were tears on both sides as we waved goodbye and pulled out of the terminal. Their departure has certainly meant that a hole in our lives is quite deeply felt. But we know that we will see them, hopefully soon, perhaps in a Greek island in the summer. To argue about the history of the Persian Wars (what do the Iranians call them?) and who was right and who was wrong. We suppose in the end, what's left of the history is two cultures that actually seem quite similar, with similar styles and temperaments. We might not know what the historical connections really are, but it's nice to have them in the present day with people who mean so much to you. The morning they left we announced that, as they were walking out of our house for the final time, we would do a tradition that was passed to us from giagia. The tradition involves throwing water on the ground just behind the people who leave, indicating a hope that they will return. Mariam turned to us as we explained this to them and said "we have that too". Like we said, there's certainly a sense of being when your friends can find the moments shared, even if they are fleeting.
No matter who invented yogurt, we sure do hope that our lives continue to be enriched by the presence and friendship of this family. Love to all.
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