From Friend to Family
The family shop, with bags of snacks hanging out front
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Shahaz, my first local friend. I went to see her again a few days ago, on an afternoon when I was feeling tired of language review and a bit lonely. When I arrived at her door, instead of showing me into the sitting room, she brought me into a bedroom, where her daughter was ensconced among the blankets with a new baby! A small crowd of women were also there, seated on the floor near the bed. Shahaz seemed so excited as she introduced me to the other women, who I learned were “the aunties,” her sisters and cousins.
I sat on the floor with them and Shahaz produced a cup of chai and a plate of food for me, and proudly explained to the aunties that I knew how to eat with my hands! They began discussing me in the local language—where I was from, where I lived, how I was trying to learn their language–and I was delighted to find that I could follow a bit of what they were saying. At one point they began pointing at me and at one another and laughing, and I asked Shahaz’s younger daughter (who speaks English well) what they were saying. She replied, “They’re talking about how thin you are and how fat they all are!” More laughter all around!
I asked the aunties where they lived, and they told me that they lived nearby in the next town over. My loneliness surfaced, and I said to them, “It’s so nice to have your family all living close by. My family is far away.” Shahaz’s daughter immediately replied, “Don’t worry! We are your family now!” The aunties all smiled and nodded, and I felt their affection fill my heart like the hot chai in my cup.
Before saying good-bye, I sat on the bed for a few minutes and held the new baby, a little girl. I said a prayer for her and made my best attempt at a blessing in my new language. This baby girl is blessed already, to be part of a loving, caring family—one that I am now part of, too.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged family by Lisa