Crunch Time...

Okay, I am officially FREAKING OUT!

Our original return date was June 28 (Siraj decided it, not me... :-) Initially we had wanted to travel at the end of the term: maybe Egypt, possibly Syria, or even Turkey. And then of course we had to do the obligatory Petra and Aqabah trip as well.

But then when we realized that it wasn’t practical to make any out of country trips, we thought, why not push our return date up and come earlier?...especially because due to some circumstances we had to vacate our apartment on the 23rd or 24th. So we tried to switch to a 25th return date...no go. After all, there are two tickets to coordinate: Amman/New York and New York/Washington. The receptionist then suggested, “Well, how about the 22nd?” I looked at Siraj, he nodded, and I said, “Okay, go ahead and book it.”

“So I’m going to delete your June 28 reservation and change it to June 22.”

“Go ahead.”

After I hung up, I practically flipped out.

“Siraj!!! What the &%*#@ did we just do??”

It was the 12th, yesterday. We had 9 days to pack before a bright ‘n’ early am flight the 22nd. Make that 8 days if you count the fact that we are checking in our bags 24 hrs early. Okay, make that 7 days if you count the fact that it’s now the 13th!

How did I get myself in this mess, I wonder....

Well...

You’re probably wondering why is she freakin’ out, she only has to pack a few bags...

I wish, I wish...

Unfortunately like I am wont to do I’ve left a million and one things left undone....with now 8 days to do them. Among other things, visit some people who are like 2 hours away, visit all our neighbors or have them visit us, buy random last minute stuff, figure out how to get all of our books back without paying a million in penalties for overweight baggage, sell some expensive stuff we bought here (microwave, cell phone, etc.), pick up some random stuff I’ve lent to people, see the dentist (because its sooo cheap here!), get glasses made (same reason)... etc. etc. etc.

I think one of the biggest tasks is the whole social scene. There’s not many westerners that I have to visit before I go, as I see them quite often and it’s easy to get them all in one place to say goodbyes. However, the local Arab friends...that’s another story. There are several people with whom we have formed close enough bonds that really do oblige us to go see them (or invite them) before we move on. After getting to know people who have been so warm and hospitable--as hosts in a strange land, really--it’s only fair that we thank them and give them our regards before leaving them perhaps forever.

There’s the Qur’an teacher who I used to chat with after our lessons, who patiently put up with my schizophrenic scheduling and canceling of classes; the neighbor who’s house I knocked at during all hours of day and night; Sh. Ali, the local teacher who Siraj learned fiqh from and whose wife was my friend; our new neighbor who is the housing coordinator for Qas*id and whose wife is also a wonderful help and person to talk to; my other new neighbor whose daughter and I took grammar classes together, and who’s now graduating with a degree in Shariah; Ustadh Ahmed, our teacher of almost 9 months (for speaking and hadith) and his mother; Umm Abdullah, my former literature tutor, who always said, “Please consider me like your mother here,”--and really meant it, in word and deed; plus Ustadh Aamir, one of the other Qas*id teachers and his wife, who I’ve recently (to my sadness now!) become quite close to and fond of.

How do you close such a chapter of your life in 8 days?

It really hit me yesterday, for we went to go visit a couple who are also Qas*id students and were our first neighbors we knew in Abu Riyadh’s building! They left for America yesterday and are returning the day after we leave. They are taking some of our books back for us, and yesterday we had to see them off and have a final visit with them. Having to officially start our goodbyes, it hit me--hard--how few these last days are.

I also remembered how the other day we went to the same couple’s house for dinner. This was last week so our plan was still for the 28th. It was a Thursday night and as we were walking to their house, we saw one of Amman’s lovely summer sights: fireworks out in the city, signaling wedding festivities. We also passed a tent put up down the street for a another wedding in our neighborhood. As we walked to our friend’s house (another impossibility in America!) in the awesome Amman summer night weather, the beauty of the country really touched me. I was like, “Siraj, I can’t believe we have to leave this place!” Then, I unceremoniously announced, “Ok, I think I’m gonna cry now.”

Having reached our friend’s building and climbing the stairs, he’s like, “For God’s sake will you please not cry now!”

Having heard my phone go off in my purse--what an impersonal interruption--I bent down, rummaging through it.

Thinking I was hunting for tissues, Siraj made one last plea, “C’mon, please don’t cry, we’ve got a dinner to go to!”

“Okay, okay, chill out,” I responded, with the possibility of tears since been distracted away, “I’m just trying to get the dang phone!”

So anyway...here we are, the end of one story coming near, a new story waiting to be formed for us (in the nation’s capital, then the blazing heat of Orlando and it’s sunny beaches :-) The wheel comes full circle--you come to a new situation, deal with it, adapt, flourish, just in time before being plunged in yet another one, with it’s unique tests, challenges, and pleasures. {sigh}...it’s life, what can I say??

...Some might lament that I were cold,
As I, when this sweet day is gone,
Which my lost heart, too soon grown old,
Insults with this untimely moan;
They might lament — for I am one
Whom men love not, — and yet regret,
Unlike this day, which, when the sun
Shall on its stainless glory set,
Will linger, though enjoyed, like joy in memory yet.

Percy Bysshe Shelley