A letter to M

I wrote this letter to my good friends M. and then thought i would share it with you, too. I hope lots of Iraqis get to read it.

" M. my dear, its been a long time since we talked.
I get that you are upset these days o 9a3da il ka2aba lissima [and so depressed, (Iraqi expression)]
:)

its alright.

You know, sometimes when i sit with mom she tells me stories.
you know how much i love stories and secrets:)

back at 1976 mom and dad graduated from engineering college in Baghdad, and told their families they are going in honeymoon to Basra but instead they volunteered to go rebuild Lebanon during the war.
they stayed in Lebanon for sometime. couple of years? not sure how long exactly, in extreme conditions of war and misery in a totally destructed town. It was bombed and then after the entire city was robbed. and when i say robbed i mean they stole even the wires from inside the walls in the buildings, the covers of the manholes in the streets, the marmar [marble] from the steps of daraj [stairs] in houses...everything.

because they were newly wedid couple, engineers and volunteers, they gave them three blankets i think, one to use as a curtain to cover the window. one to use as a blanket, and one to cover the door since there was no doors or windows, all were stolen too.

extreme life conditions. and they were very young. Just graduated from university.

mom and dad helped rebuilding that city. and in these conditions of war and civil war, she had to move around with bodyguards and a gun. when they were alone in their apartment in Lebanon, mom and dad (later when they got an apartment, bil bidaya chanat bas `3orfa [first they only had a room]) they were spending time shooting on the madkhana [chimney] of the near building from their balcony. they lived the life of fear that you live now, with missiles flying over their heads the entire time, and civil war killing people that survived the bullets.

now mom is a very very peaceful person, when i used to make her play chess with me when i was little, she would refuse to kill the jonood bil li3ba ["soldiers" of chess], she feels bad for them. hehehhe. that's how peaceful she is.

the moral of the story is, i know that inshalla 20 years from now, you will be sitting with your children, telling them about these hard days you are going through now. and they will admire your courage and respect the decisions you made.
show the courage and tolerant that will make you proud and make your children proud years later. just like i am proud of my mom now.
You will go through these rough days, and you are going to be just fine dear, i promise:) "