Personal Essays
May you smile always ...
And so, I was all grown up. And I wanted to leave home. So, my grandmother gave me a parting gift. Something precious that had belonged to her. And she said "Güle güle".
"May you smile always".
So I left. I did not look back. Until just recently.
Looking back now, I remember she was kind and infinitely patient even when I turned into a difficult and opinionated teenager. She was a superb cook, who would take unpromising ingredients and, in what seemed no time, conjure a magic feast to fit the occasion. She was gifted with needle and thread. Having known years of real hardship, she never threw anything away, but recycled everything. She was also illiterate. This came to matter terribly to me as I immersed myself in books and I now know that it should not have. She was a devout Muslim and deeply innocent. Naive, even. And I miss her very much!
"May you smile always".
So I left. I did not look back. Until just recently.
Looking back now, I remember she was kind and infinitely patient even when I turned into a difficult and opinionated teenager. She was a superb cook, who would take unpromising ingredients and, in what seemed no time, conjure a magic feast to fit the occasion. She was gifted with needle and thread. Having known years of real hardship, she never threw anything away, but recycled everything. She was also illiterate. This came to matter terribly to me as I immersed myself in books and I now know that it should not have. She was a devout Muslim and deeply innocent. Naive, even. And I miss her very much!