Husband
January 10, 2020
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I’m in Cairo for a second time in less than six months. And it is still as mad as it was the first time. =) I am just amazed at how this city sustains itself. Traffic is horrendous, the city is completely over-populated, it is hot, dirty and so so polluted – yet somehow, it works. The chaos is a magical formula that enables people to survive. Humans are so adaptable. Even in the harshest of conditions, the body and spirit will find a way to not only survive, but also thrive. Thrive! In a place so full of hardship and chaos, there is beauty everywhere.
Beauty in the way that poor families spend their Thursday evenings on the bridges of the Nile, taking in the view, their time together already a leisure and a treat. Beauty in the sincere servitude that everyone has offered to me during my time here. Beauty in the perseverance that I witness each and every day – where young boys and men haul their donkeys and carts along the roads in the harshest heat in order to make a living. There is beauty in the modest veils that Muslim women wear. Beauty in the ancient mosques that line the muggy Cairo skyline. And beauty in smiles – so many of them, from everywhere; even in our cars, deadlocked in traffic, there is always room for a smile.
In the week and a half that I’ve been here, I have seen how the wealthy live and can only assume how the poorest of the poor survive. Hard working donkeys and mules join the deadlocked traffic, black tanned children roam the streets and an orange-brown lining of sand and dust covers everything. The material chaos of this place hits you as hard as the sticky humidity in the air. And yet, the beauty of the human spirit becomes even more recognizable, stripped bare to the bone, when there are minimal material things to adorn with or covet.
A few days ago, after a 4.5 hour drive back to Cairo from Alexandria, we passed a car with a newly married couple in the back. Their car was adorned in ribbons and flowers. The driver saw me in the passenger seat, smiled, honked and yelled “Welcome to Cairo!!!”. Amazing! They were so happy. In that rickety car, the hope of a new life, new happiness, a new family, beamed in their smiles. It was just one of the many blessings I was witness to here.
It has been a spiritual visit. The personal isolation that I’ve felt over the last few days, in a city of 18 million bustling people, has been hard. But it has also been a blessing. It makes me happy to be alive, and happy to have lived the way that I have so far.
I spent my 26th birthday in Mykonos this year. Purposely with girlfriends, purposely away from any boy drama that could have gotten in the way of celebrating the fabulousness of being here, being me, being in this place and time. It was wonderful. Likely one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. We were five girls total, roaming the little Greek island in an open top jeep. It was pure chaos, laughter and togetherness. I am beaming just remembering it all.
For nearly a week, we spent our days on the beach, before hauling in for dinner at around 9pm. By 1am, primped and perfumed, we were out on the streets of Mykonos with the thousands of other party-goers dressed to impress. And we stayed out until 7am in morning, grabbing breakfast on the way home before getting a few hours sleep to start the new afternoon. It was heaven! The streets of Mykonos were packed full of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. Gorgeous men and women, perfectly tanned and toned walked the streets in the ridiculously skimpy outfits allowed only on a Greek island during the summer.
The night of the 27th, we stayed at the beach even after sundown, dancing to the Greek hip-hop music blaring from the nearby bar. We danced in the water, took off our swimsuits and screamed our smiles in the wide open sea. It was so beautiful and freeing – five girls, our bare bodies cradled in the warm, calm waters of aegean, dancing our laughter and womanhoods into dusk. I don’t think I was more happy than in that moment – naked in the ocean, laughing into the open sea, celebrating the amazing journey of the past year. In that moment, I knew that 26 would be a great year, one of the best. In that moment, I knew that I would be okay – regardless of the confusion and personal hardships that I’ve had to battle with in my head, I had no doubt that great things were possible.
We met some amazing people – Italians, Greeks, Swiss. It was an international crowd – all adults, all looking for a good time. In Mykonos, under the protection of our clan of 5 girls, we were invincible. We talked to anyone and everyone, we’d dance, we’d flirt, we’d share stories and laugh. The safety net that we had in each other allowed for a type of inhibition that isn’t possible any other time. We chased cars of boys and were chased back in return. We talked about life, love, our bodies, boys, sex, work, our dreams, fears and wishes. It was a weekend where we could truly be ourselves but also revel in the sheer high of being able to re-invent ourselves each new night, with each new person that we met. It was incredible.
We ate fantastic food at small family-run taverns. We hung out the back of our jeeps, testing fate and safety, as the sunset swept hair in our faces. Even our walks home from the high hills of Mykonos, during the quiet sunsets on hot afternoons were so full of grace and beauty. In my photographer’s eye, I have never seen light touch skin so wonderfully as it did in Mykonos. The whole holiday, all five glorious days, were touched with grace.
26 will be touched with grace also. I know that wonderful, amazing, fairytale things await. I just know it.
