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Blessings


It was go go go for endless hours on Monday, but then around 7 pm it all came to a beautiful and loving pause.

When I think back to my childhood and our life in Iran, every thought and memory ends up having something to do with Family Ties.   Families were large, effortlessly close and always around.  

When my parents made Canada our new home years ago, the first few years were the most difficult, because it was impossible to imagine what life would be like with just the six of us.  

Soon we learned as all expats do, that you find your family in your new formed friendships.  They become your brides maids and grooms men, they attend your graduation and celebrate your child's birth, and will be your in case of emergency contact....  They get you, the kind of love and closeness you miss and need in your new life...  
And over the past eight years, as Mr. Urban and I made a life together in Silicon Valley, we have felt lucky not only for what we have together, but also in the special friendships we have been fortunate to make.

And so it was that by 7:00 pm Monday night, Twenty of us were sitting around our tiny living room, huddling around Mr. Urban, his mother and brothers, exchanging stories of love and life and loss.

Mr. Urban poured Shiraz wine for everyone and raised his glass for his father, who was born in Shiraz, and had liked that particular wine...  We shared a simple Persian meal and cups of black tea with dates.  Our friends' older children, sweetly kept the UrbanToddler engaged (and enamoured) till late at night, the sound of their giggles would make us laugh out loud.  

There were hearty hugs, tears, laughter, many stories, beautiful flowers and an abundance of comfort and kindness...

And then last night, just as the days busy-ness wore off, and without expecting it, two more lovely friends walked through the door, and just like that sat at our table and held our hearts, and made us feel Blessed!  


here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
                                
                             e.e. cummings
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