Mommy's Special Day!

The beauty of having growing daughters is that they are able to do things quite well while you are, say, at work and having a hard time trying to balance that professional life with the important elements of family life. Case in point. Mommy's birthday this year fell on the same day as the first day we were required to return to school for face-to-face meetings, planning, etc. It was a bitter-sweet morning due to the new regulations (social distancing, masks, etc.) and being able to see friends and colleagues that we had not seen in person in over five months. But it was also the first day we would leave our little ones behind in the same five month period.  As the parents went to school, worked away and then returned, the girls were able to put together some beautiful birthday cards for the "best mother in the world". 

And so, after returning, and as per mommy's request, we went off to one of her favorite local places to celebrate in a very low key manner. No birthday cakes. Not fanfare or singing. No streamers and balloons. Just smiles and laughter and hugs and talk of journeys, and love and connection. The girls had a chance to share their thoughts - in writing - with their mother and we celebrated in relative calm. Mommy, filled with a combination of exhaustion from day one at work and a full heart from her family, was all smiles. We love you, mommy, to the moon and back!  

Budding Independence

 

As time ticks on there are things that are becoming increasingly evident to us parents. The kids are getting older. They are asking for more independence. They think (don't they all) that they know what it's all about. They are able to handle themselves. They can make decisions for themselves. They are responsible. They have good friends. They want to be with them. Alone. And so the give-and-take of parenting and child rearing continues... Irini had her first 'outing' without adults around the other day. She got together with three friends (whom she hadn't seen in who knows how long) and they did what so many other youngsters in Dubai do... went to the mall (to the dismay of daddy who, though recognizing that the heat is unbearable out there, wants her to embrace her inner Indiana Jones)!  The outing included a scavenger hunt game (trying to find specific items based on a list provided), trying 'stuff' on and purchasing a couple things as well. Irini went off with her money (budgeting is part of the learning, of course) and her friends and left her parents behind to find their balance between the pride in a growing, responsible daughter and the sadness at losing direct contact with one's child. Tough, right?  :-) In the end it all went perfectly well. Irini came back beaming. Mommy, daddy and Amalia welcomed her back with the requisite hugs, kisses and "how did it go".  Life changes. We adjust. Love everywhere. 

In with the New (Car)

 

Earlier we talked about our 'old' Dubai car. We said goodbye with a heavy heart to the Nissan, though mommy happily welcomed our newest member to our family. A Toyota, gently used by our friends Mariam and John, who have moved on (sadly) to other parts of the world. What they leave behind is a well-equipped, way-too-fancy-for-daddy's-style, SUV which we hope will treat us well over the years. It's younger than the Nissan and has more gadgets, of course. Still, it's the type of car that we hope will give us a great experience when roaming the coasts, hillsides and mountains of the UAE and Oman!  Welcome, new friend, to the family and our journey which you, quite literally, will be a big part of. :-)

Out with the Old (Car)

We remember when we first arrived in Dubai looking around at the sheer size of cars that people drove and thinking "what's going on around here?"  The highways are big. The cars are big. The distances are big. The expectations are big. And though, especially for daddy, a large car had never been 'on the list' of things to buy it became apparent to us that a large car might be a good idea "in case there's an accident". And so the European small-car mindset was replaced by Dubai large-car mindset and we grew accustomed to things. The Nissan became mommy's car and we happily used it for four years. But with the start of year five it became evident that we might be looking for a change. The car was old(er) and finding something new might be worth our while.  Though daddy, Irini and Amalia were not so convinced that a sale was necessary (it was soooo comfortable for the girls) it was, after all, mommy's car and so we bid a very fond farewell to our first car in Dubai. Thankfully it was happily purchased by a colleague of ours who has promised to take good care of it and, at the very least, we now see the car parked in the school's parking lot still. Not quite the same, but at least we know she's there. :-)

Yogurt by Any Other Name

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.