Happy Friday!

I am running late to visit with my family.  I thought I would leave a happy video clip for you guys!  Miss Mina dances "Gher" in Irvine this past spring.  I hope you enjoy it.  Remember to dance along if you can!  I am going to spend the evening with four of my sisters and their families.  My son is coming home from Santa Cruz, joining the family.  If the opportunity presents itself, I will dance to my heart's content, too!  Have a great Friday and a good start to your weekend you guys!

Wrapped in Love

My friends surprised me with an early birthday celebration this year.  I learned at the implementation stages, that Leva and Jahanshah had coordinated everyone else in a plan to "surprise" me!  The poor guy who gave away the surprise, His Majesty, got an earful from me, that is before I got into the swing of things and started enjoying myself!  This cake was quite possibly the biggest and most delicious chocolate cake I had ever seen and tasted!  The blue butterfly on top, a design my friend Jahanshah had picked, resembles the blue butterfly which is my avatar when I write on Iranian.com.  I was touched by my friends' kindness and generosity one more time.  And so, my week-long birthday celebrations continue!  Well, since it's inevitable to grow old, perhaps it's better to do it with the help of our friends, wrapped in love (you know the Molana poem which says "I am wrapped in love," or dar asheghi pichideh-am?)

The best part of my life has always been the part in which I have been wrapped in love, surrounded by loving friends and family, and people who would give me a chance to love them.  Do you realize what a great gift people give us when they let us love them?  It has happened very infrequently, but the few times in my life when I loved someone who didn't let me show that love, my life has been poorer and bereft of joy and light for it.  Am I making sense to you?  Let people love you.  Let them show you their love.  You are giving a great gift to them and to yourself at the same time.

Anyhow, I would much rather celebrate every day of life as opposed to making a big deal out of just one day, birthdays.  But the spontaneous separate birthday celebrations continue all the way through next Monday, immersing  me in kindness and generosity, wrapping me in love.

I know what true bliss in life is--it is a life full of friendships and love, and a home filled with peace and joy of life.  I have it all, I'll have you know.  I do. 

More Trick or Treaters at the Door!

So, O.K. Not ALL the Trick or Treaters were young children tonight! These ones were old enough to say that they loved our pumpkin! Everybody is looking for peace, it seems!

Trick or Treat!

It's Halloween. Every year on this night, children and adults alike get dressed in costumes. Whereas adults usually go to parties and parades, children go "Trick or Treating," which is very similar to the old Iranian custom of "ghashogh zani" on Charshanbeh Soori eve. Homeowners who are ready for their ghouls and goblins, leave welcoming signs on their porches, walk ways, or steps, inviting the youngesters to come to their doors. Once the kids arrive with their baskets, pouches, bags, or other containers, they are given candy.Our house was ready for our young visitors. My son, the Traveler, chose to carve the pumpkin in the shape of the international Peace symbol this year. I must say I was really touched to find it when I came home tonight.

Look at these sweet angels who came "Trick or Treating!" Those smiles are real, because they scored big at my house! Chocolate bars were the order of the day. Happy Halloween everyone!

Friends

This is a video clip of our trip to Orange County to see Kiosk last weekend. It's called "Having a Biscuit in a Moving Car."

My birthday celebrations are officially over now. This is my last report about it and I promise you won't have to hear about it anymore for another year! My friends had me another birthday celebration today for lunch. It was such an elaborate and fabulous gathering, I was speechless! Wonderful food and a sweet sweet reception, filled with laughter and humor were the order of the day.

I reflect sometimes at the twists and turns my life has taken over the years. Though it has obviously been hard to move on and start all over again, I have left each phase with a heartful of irreplaceable friendships, and have entered another where new friends, as yet to-be-met, have been awaiting me. My young California internet friends have been such an important bridge into the new phase of my life over the past year. For a while, to express myself, I was writing but only for myself. Through their support I found the courage and confidence to share my writings with others and learned to communicate on this new medium, finding new friends and building meaningful relationships. They became my friends and my family all at once, each of us filling the gaps and voids of each other's lives. Their friendship has been invaluable in how I learned to cross the bridge of homesickness, loneliness, and occasional bereavement. Some of them are young enough to be my children, but our relationships are very mature and deep. We laugh a lot and cry a little sometimes when we are together. We talk about life and hurdles each of us has to overcome, and become deeply hopeful for the other's success and achievement.

I feel rich and deeply blessed in how good my life feels these days. A very important part of that life is the friends that surround me now. This is my thank you note to my friends, Leva and Vahid, Mehran, Payam, Reza, Roja and Hossein, Ehsan and Maryam, Omid, Helaleh, Marjan, Jahanshah and Nazy, and of course all the others who come visit me here, whether or not they leave me messages, making me feel a part of a very special circle in this world. Thank you all. You know, it's definitely easier to grow old with good friends!