What Dreams Are Made Of

Today was a good day ::exhales:: See that little girl up there? That's my mini-me, little sister, diva in training, and the love of my life. She's definitely spoiled rotten. I adore her though and couldn't deny it if I tried, but thats neither here nor there. My friend who does photography took this while we were at the park, and uploaded it/sent it to me today. I'm in love with it, so I just decided to share it.

Anywho, my family from The United Arab Emirates (it's in the Mideast) have been in town for over a week. Did you know my paternal grandfather and aunts are Muslim? I would be too had my dad chose to follow the religion. For those who didn't know, you learn something new everyday. Whatever the case, they were here from over seas. I remember meeting them a VERY long time ago, but it wasn't recent enough for me to feel like we had any common bond that went deeper than blood (granted, bloods thicker than water). So, today felt like I was meeting them for the first time.

Now anyone who knows anything about me knows that I'm a huge family person, and I love porkchops. For this post, let's focus on the first piece of information. I'm a huge family person. As funny as it sounds, I kept up with my aunt and her children in the UAE through Facebook. However, my first encounter with her and her children was today. Long story short, they're a handful BUT I loved it. So now I have 5 new cousins to speak of- ages 2, 4, 7, 9 and 10. They moved to the UAE 5 years ago, so their memory of the U.S. is funny. For most of them, it was their first time using a water fountain today. You would have thought it was one of the greatest gadgets invented by the reaction they had.

Random: it's crazy how much me, my cousin, and youngest sister favor each other. I guess the crazy part for me really is knowing there's someone on the other side of the world who looks like me. Thanks to Chuck E. Cheese for providing me with the little photo machine that takes token so I could capture moments like these without toting aroung my handy dandy digital camera. Check it out.


What I really loved about today was interacting with another part of my family (the Muslim side) and learning their culture. My aunt gave me the Qur'an when I graduated highschool, and I hadn't gotten around to reading it because I want to read the Bible completely before studying another religion. Nonetheless, the things I learned today weren't major facts of life- but they were definitely interesting. My original intent was to share all these little 'fun facts' with you, but it's just a bunch of random facts that I can't put together in any type of organized fashion. What matters most is the moment was captured. Here's another pic with most of the fam, minus the youngest one. Again, shouts to Chuck E. Cheese :)

I guess that's about it. On another note, this blog is a constant reminder that I've been ripping and running and have been working on finishing The Color of Water for far too long (since it sits to the right just staring at me). I'm going to handle that soon as I log off though. Secondly, it's time for a song change. Jay-Z is always a first pick. Ironically, I've been feeling content, yet this song is still singing lullabies to me.

Feeling Golden,
B