Saturday, July 30, 2011

A very typical morning

Ghadi wakes up in the morning, 
hears his brother laughing,
hurries to my room,
jumps on the bed , 
lay down as close as possible to Sary!
trying to play with him, putting his finger in Sary's eye (almost)
then, me, asking Ghadi to keep his hand away from his brother's eyes!
Ghadi gets furious
he pulls aside, showing clearly how upset he is

and Sary, smiling, waving with his hands
looking at me with his amazing eyes that seem to say: thank you! thaaank you!!! 

Stand by me!

Did It ever happen to you
While going to work,
Half asleep, eyes half closed,
doing great effort to drive, avoid crowded streets, avoid drivers more sleepy than you, avoid sunrays which are haunting your eyes, making it harder to keep them open,
thinking about your child who started crying since early morrning because he doesn’t want to go to summer camp (i.e. colonie), thinking about the smiles and the scent of your baby, which you grasped just before leaving home, wishing you could come back and spend the rest of your life kissing him and hugging him…
feeling the blues… and chocking throught…
then
suddenly
a very cool DG of a very cool radio station, Light FM, plays a song
a song that would turn you upside doen, lift your spirits so high…
it was Ben E. King: stand by me
I raised the volume
High
Then higher
And higher…

he song reminds me of really good days
Of the lion king, timon and pumbaa

 “When the night has come 
And the land is dark 
And the moon is the only light we see 
No I won't be afraid 
No I won't be afraid 
Just as long as you stand, stand by me 

So Pumbaa, Pumbaa stand by me 
Oh, now, now, stand by me 
Stand by me, stand by me 

If the sky that we look upon 
Should tumble and fall 
And the mountain should crumble to the sea 
I won't cry, 
(Pumbaa) You won't cry? 
(Timon)
Nooo, I won't shed a tear 
Just as long as you stand, stand by me 

So Pumbaa, Pumbaa stand by me 
Oh, stand by me 
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me 

(Frogs)
Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me 
Oh, now, now, stand by me 
Oh, stand by me, stand by me, stand by me “



I Started to sing along in a –really-high voice
And then it was a better world, a better day!
A great smile was slowly blossoming upon my face and all the good thoughts and the positive energy started flowing around
We really forget how small things may turn our day and make it start better
Thinking deeply about work-life-friends-
about a better future, for us and for our families

why- episode 2

some of Ghadi's daily questions, repeated over and over again:
Why are you my mother?
Why am I your son?
why is it summer?
Why is it Sunday?
Why tomorrow is Monday?
Why sary is my brother?

then when it comes to CARS, it gets much easier really
at least i have direct replies!
- leish "bar2 benzine"  sari3 ktir? "why is Lightning Macqueen speedy?
- la anno sayyaret siba2! Because it is a racing car
- “leish sayyaret el siba2 btimshi bsir3aaa?”Why the racing car is speedy? 
- La anno douleba kbir…. W bit3abbi benzin ktir (because tires are big... -not convincing enough- and they have lots of fuel.(baaaaaaaaaah, silly answer, can not even convince a toddler!) that why i deserve the next question:
- leish douleba kbir?(why its tires are so big?)
- La anna sayyaret siba2 
looking at me, Ghadi is thinking
looking ta him, feeling so bad that at times like this i have no REAL CONVINCING ANSWERS for evident questions.
I am preparing for an exam, reading reference guides, about 300 pages each, and yet I can not find a simple convincing answer for a preschooler!
this is BAD

Friday, July 22, 2011

Lilia's Birthday Party

Last month we were invited to share Lilia her third birthday party!
She looked as cute as ever, and Ghadi enjoyed everything, the garden, the music, and surely, the delicious cake!
Lilia's mom has made great effort to make this day a special one and surely she succeeded in that!
I love this family and I hope life will bring them the best they truly deserve.




Stepping outside the comfort zone

Never thought I would take my kids and drive to Batroun and spend 2 amazing days with my sister and her three kids, without Jamil!
It all started 3 weeks ago when I made reservation for one suite in Batroun Country club (it is about 80 minutes far from Beirut)
And since it was almost fully booked, there was only one suite left, and we had to go without Jamil.


Certainly I didn’t think twice about it, until we were all in the car, heading north, and only then I was thinking: oh my God, what am I doing!
It’s been long time since I drove to North, the highway seemed scary and I was feeling something between full excitement and horror. To my surprise, it was all under control, kids enjoyed, I enjoyed, even my little baby enjoyed it!
The sun was shy, but it made it cool and I was less worried regarding Ghadi spending long time in the pool.
At the evening we had a walk around the club and Ghadi was so nice and so happy.
Thank you sis and thank you kids for this nice short vacation! It was relaxing and the valuable moments we spent together (without laptops-facebook-mobile phone) are so precious!




And one advise for you my boys,
Do NOT stop challenging yourselves
Do NEVER stop seeking new places and driving new roads
And remember that the feeling of a new experience is something you would never forget
From the simple fact of walking through a street which you never noticed before in your neighborhood,
to travelling and visiting places you’ve never heard of.

Back to my mini-holiday, I may say that I will never forget those couple days.
I can still hear the laughs of Ghadi with his cousins, I can still feel the joy.
Even Sary looked so peaceful and going well with the breeze and the soft sunrays.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Illustrating & Celebrating

Celebrating is always amazing

 finding a good reason to celebrate is not always easy, & this time it is a great event that I am so proud of.
2 weeks ago we celebrated my best friend's illustrations in the children's book: ma a7la a'nawm (sleeping is so beautiful). she is super talented and fond of children's illustrations. 

This is really a happy event. A dream coming true.
It all started 5 years ago, when we used to work together. And when the depressing clouds got thicker over Lebanon we had to find a way out of the blues so we got crazy, we got active, we designed characters, realized them on cut stickers and we started to spread them all around... everywhere... even on waste baskets and municipal electricity boxes!
November 2006 - Al sanaye'e Park

It was inspiring and kind of relieving and then we got more involved in street art.
we participated in a competition held by Goethe Institute and we won!
Zari never stopped drawing and illustrating since then, she had her own blog, participated in many workshops, and she started illustrating children's books! they were in small format, and this one is the first in full colors.
A great milestone and a huge step to reach the stars!