A Yalda Love Story (Part IV)

A nut shop in Tehran showcases Yalda nuts

(Parts I, II, and III)

Amir and Maryam met for the first time for a cup of coffee. They had so much to tell each other, where they had been, what they had done, their losses and failures, ther triumphs and joys, their children and their careers, and of course, their old friends. As the months went by, they started meeting each other regularly, talking, talking, and talking, trying to make up for all the lost years. They called Morteza on the phone one time. Morteza still remembered how in that school yard with hundres of students in it, whenever he asked Amir where Maryam was, he could point her out to him, as though her movements were somehow followed by the most exact instruments inside Amir's heart and mind. He could also remember his fateful words of patience and encouragement to Amir, the ones about his knowing that he and Maryam would be together someday. After talking to Maryam, when Amir took the phone to talk to Morteza, who was in shock for learning that his old classmates were side by side of each other and calling him, Morteza asked Amir if he and Maryam were going to get married. Amir replied: "Maybe someday."

Six months later, Amir told Tara that he wanted to take her mother out on "a proper date." In her young innocense, Tara simply asked Amir to be nice to her mother, as she had been through a lot. Now Amir and Maryam were inseparable, in love again, and managing their independent lives. Years of separation, and their painful failures in their first marriages, however, had left many wounds and scars on their souls. Scars that only time and love could heal. They persisted and persevered as occasionally one of those old wounds would open up and would have one or both of them in agony, doubt, and pain. Their love needed time to spread its roots and to heal those wounds. Last year they decided to get married this year, still waiting to be sure, as in their adult lives they both knew there was no more time for mistakes.

This year they are finally sure. They have a wedding planned, with an appropriate date and occasion--Yalda, the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. An occasion which has meaning and significance to them both, as it has touched their lives irreversibly a few times. Yalda, with all its sweet and sad memories spanning three decades, is finally bringing them together for a union and a celebration long overdue. The longest night of the year, finally closing the longest time two people can wait for each other.

Is there a happier thing to witness than two people's adult love, respect, and trust for and in each other? For me, there isn't. I will put on my dancing shoes and go celebrate one of the sweetest love stories I have ever known. I am going to a wedding this Yalda.

(To Be Continued...)