Every day, I wake up with a simple intention: to live as if today is the last day of my life. But life, with all its beauty, often collides with an unimaginable darkness. In the blink of an eye, the home I grew up in, filled with memories of love, laughter, and sunsets, is gone—reduced to rubble by forces that claim morality. This is a story of enduring loss, relentless resilience, and the quiet strength we carry as we rise again. As the world around us shifts, we remain—rooted, like the ancient cedars of Lebanon.
I had no idea that you could be an orphan with both parents still alive... But today, all the free people of the world, especially those in Lebanon, have been orphaned. The passing of Sayyed has left us without a father, without a protector. He wasn’t just carrying a nation, he was carrying the hearts
رحيل السيد و تركنا بلا أب، بلا حامي. الدنيا فجأة همدت، والفراغ اللي تركه موجع أكتر مما كنا نتخيل. كنا نعرف إنه نحبه، بس هلأ فهمنا قديش هو كان يحبنا. حبه كان بالأفعال والتضحيات، مش بس بالكلام. يا سيد، كنت الأب اللي الحماية والتربية جزء من روحه. غيابك تركنا وحيدين، بس ذكراك منقوشة بقلوبنا، ودروسك عايشة فينا.
As I became older, Salaam Ajami’s store faded from my memory.. and the shopping avenue we lived on in Tyre became larger and more modern, we started going to more expanded shops that were not a tiny corner like Salaam’s but also had fine quality clothing and the kindest people like the Hachem’s (Em Hassan and Abo Hassan)… now that I think about it, all the memorable shop owners had one thing in common; extreme generosity and kindness.
When I watched myself talk about the transition period between leaving my home country Lebanon, and moving to the US, I could hear my voice choking in the background... All of a sudden, you are no longer under mom and dad's wings, surrounded by their love, and protected by their system... All of a sudden, it is you, yourself, and you. Most and if not every immigrant would have a special memory for the time when they first moved to a new country. The moment where home starts to get a new definition. The moment where the American Dream turns into the American Reality! In the beginning of that period, it is incredibly foggy, busy, noisy, and genuinely painful. It...
