~ my living grace ~

Teta.. Granny.. Nonoo.. Daddy’s mom.. I don’t think anyone else in this whole wide world has a teta like mine.. I’m going to talk here about one very special remarkable person.. She’s your 80+ old very familiar chubby huggable grandma, who’s an expert in making yummy heavy greasy meals.. The one who always tells you stories about the past.. The one who’s constantly trying to hook everybody up to get them married (& she succeeds ;) ).. The one whom you turn to; trying to know more about who you really are & where you’re coming from.. She tells you about how she raised your dad/mom.. How the days back then were happy & blessed.. But that’s not all.. My teta is so much more than that.. I’m sure no matter what I write, the picture would still remain incomplete.. She was brought up with biracial parents.. Not only were they biracial, more secrets (only hers) to that too.. And this bit of information gives a hint of where she’s coming from.. It’s a big part of who she is.. She’s not typically anything.. She’s just her.. With her mood swinging, creativity, artistic inclinations & expandable knowledge.. And over all, strong deep faith.. A faith that never really seems to pause or gets “put on hold”.. Of course no one can tell how genuine one’s faith is.. No one is required to.. It’s not for us to judge.. By faith I meant (the practiced one I see) the daily practicing as in relying-on & worshiping God.. Prayers are her clock.. Obligatory & nonobligatory.. I love how she prays for all her loved ones (alive & dead) EACH & EVERY night.. Not a day passes by without her reading of God's words.. Lately, I’ve been relating to her a lot.. I don’t really know how, but somehow, I have some of her traits.. And I totally understand her & all her unexpected actions.. She writes quiet often.. Wish she could be able to join the blogging world ;) She writes poems almost on everything & everyone.. I have my own (poem written by her about me) & so does the rest of my family.. She allowed me to share here one of her latest (& one of my favorite) poems.. She wrote it to giddo (may he be in a better & a higher place than the one we’re in now) who passed away years & years ago.. Here goes:

Wow, thinking of her past.. Man, how many people have learned from her (she was a teacher)! WOooHooOW! She’s a very striving woman (in all fields).. Until this very day, with her age & broken ankle! Four years ago, she sewed beautiful dresses, from scratch for me! She still sews things (I really wanna learn how to sew).. I love her love for ice cream :) Whenever we'd go to egypt in the summer, after every meal, she’d take us in the balcony & treat us with ice cream.. I’m not really fond of ice cream (even as a kid, so sue me! I used to have it trying to sense the joy that all other kids experienced when having it, but failed :D ).. She’s so into dairy products.. SO into them! And I think that’s the reason why she never lost any of her teeth :) MashaAllah! I wish I could take from her NEVER giving-in to "today's medicine"! She goes only for natural treatments.. What more can I say? Well, one of my greatest joys of life, is sitting in her house, on her bed & going over real old pictures with her.. That's a real blast for me :) *sigh* I really wish that her wish for me would come true.. She wishes to see my future husband before she dies.. I wish the same (if I live.. lol).. And I wish it; ‘cuz I clearly know that if he doesn’t see her, He won’t see a big part of me!

May The Subtly Kind & Most Loving grant me a warm life with her presence that makes more sense of my today & everyday.. Amen.