My Guardian Angel

My mom is one of the greatest women you’ll ever have the honor to meet , I owe everything I am today to the way she raised me. She’s only 4’9 but she has a way with words than can terrorize the shit out of anyone if she wants to and it was with that attitude that she raised me and my 4 siblings.

The reason why I’m writing this is kind of a long story, but long story short a family member had a heart attack and Ali and I went to visit him, while we were there and as he started telling us the story of what happened to him his wife brought him a cup (istikan) of tea and bread, Iraqi bread is a piece of round flat bread that has thicker edges and a thinner crispier center, so he started eating his bread starting so close to the edge and working his way around it carefully tearing pieces and eating them without breaking the edge which was gradually turning  into a bread circle, now you should know that I absolutely love that man and I was genuinely concerned for his health but I could swear to god that I could not hear a single word he was saying all I could hear was mom’s voice telling 6 year old me that it’s wrong to eat bread from the center out without breaking the edges! 

I have no idea why she considered that to be wrong but no one in my family, includig dad, ever dared to eat bread without breaking the edges or eat from a plate other than the one right in front of them or be rude to anyone or raise their voice to anyone older or treat someone different just because they had or didn’t have money, "drivers and cleaners are human just like you so you better be nice to them!" she used to say, always smile and say thank you, be thankful for what you have one day you might not have anything left!

 Some of her advice became corner stones in my grownup character others made zero sense to me back then and even now, but they stuck in my brain for years and I plan on passing most of them to my son and although our relationship have had its ups and downs and changed significantly over the years I still know that no matter what happens she will always be there for me and that the phone will ring every single day at 11 am and again at 7 pm  and Mom will be on the other end checking on me, I also know that no matter how old or independent  I get I will always be her little girl and she will always see me that way and ask me if I'm wearing socks in winter and remind me to cover my self with a blanket when I sleep and most important no matter what I do or how stupid I get she will always be there for me. I appreciate everything she did for us more and more everyday and I have absolutely no idea how she managed to stay sane with 5 kids! I know I don't say this nearly as often as I should but thank you mom for always pushing me to be the best, for giving me tough love when I needed it and for holding always my hand no matter what.

"When I die, I hope you teach how to fly
All my life you've been that angel in disguise"