LONG WAY HOME.

Dear Blog,
It has been forever since i last blogged, I am very sorry for I have neglected you. I have not surrendered my thoughts and feelings to you like i used to.
This week has been hectic. Days go so fast and that definately means that you have to value time and use it wisely..It also means aging and getting closer to your death bed..

I received a call from my cousin Ayan in Nairobi on Sunday morning 07/29/07, that my father was very ill. He has alot going on, He is 63 yrs old with all the"somali" sickness. High Blood Pressure, Diabetes and has the worst chronic asthma that i have ever seen.He was hospitalised since Saturday night, i feel awfully bad that i didnt do any good that same night and i was out having fun with my cousin and her friends. That is so immature of me, i should know better that i passed the age of having fun. It was one of those Saturday afternoons that you dont have plans, and we have been crashing weddings about 7 weekends in a row( i think). I know, that is absurd and over the limit. That is what i call fun, They say all work and no play makes Jack a Dull boy and thats how i convinced my self..Its all about psychology its all in the head, what one considers a good time.
My cousin Hani's best friend named Abyan, we all like to call "Her BOYFREIND". She is a tom boy and thats why we call them a lesbian couple. One is so lady like and the other acts,talks, walks like a boy..
She came and saw us all trying to grasp for fresh air, lying and chilling near the air conditioning vent just to keep cool from the humid hot weather that we have been getting lately..
She told us that there is this cool place in Columbia heights, a suburb north east of Minneapolis where alot of arabs live. There is a joint that we can chill and try arabic delicasy.. I havent had gyros and shish kabobs for long..I thought that was a good idea, Mind you i am the same girl who has inferiority complex when it comes to my weight. I just wanted to put that aside for a day and let it be, for once i wanted to enjoy the food.

We drove all the way up north, She invited one of their friends and she also came with a couple of their buddies from Atlanta vacationing here in the twin cities. Are they out of their minds coming here to vacation. While they got the clubs, go sees and all in ATL.
Well, I understand where they are coming from and they dont have enough somali population compared to MN and so they are here hunting for MEN( SINGLE). I guess thats worth it when you are single.
Once we were there,it was small joint, nice interior. It was the place to be.. Somali guys and girls all cute and dressed up smoking shisha... I almost laughed my heart out seeing people twinging their eyes and making funny facial expressions smoking that SH*. They all looked like ameteurs, I didnt even know that such a place existed.We took up two booths for we were a group of 8 girls and may i say very loud girls.
So we had to do what romans do when you are in Rome. We ordered some gyros, chicken tikka,hummus,arabic coffee.
Then came for the time to smoke and get crunked.,.The waiters were really cute and they were even belly dancing you would say that is so disgusting to see a guy shaking his ass off and doing the snake.End of it all we were enjoying the humour and we were actually having fun to say the least. I would be so disgusted if someone told me a man was belly dancing but this was fun..
They started ordering flavours, can i have one lemon, apple and mint. We were sharing 2 people per 1 shisha. I trust my cousin so we shared one, that was apple flavoured.At first "we" my cousin and I became hesitant and shy, and they started criticizing us and giving us those looks of what are you scared of. We are all in this together. I was watching my cousin,all that i could think of was our reputation and what people would think of what we are doing..I rather smoke it in my house and privately and not in public.
Abyan tried to convince me that we were all sailing in the same boat, so i dont need to worry about anything. I took the first three puffs and it was all good until my head started to spin and i started getting dizzy and my body was so weak i couldnt even pick my hands up.While i was doing this my dad is in the hospital bed trying to gasp for air for his asthma attacks. If i knew i wouldnt be doing this.
We did this while conversing, chit chatting, laughing singing we had a good time..It was almost midnight and we getting ready to leave for we had been there since 8 pm and it was time to head home, before my grand ma gets suspicious.
Driving home was fun, we jammed to Old school and singing along, i guess we had the energy because of the tobacco we consumed.
We were home by 1-1.30am got ready to bed,I was unable to sleep. My head was still spinning when in bed same was occuring to my cousin. I could feel the floor was sinking down and the ceiling was crashing down on me. We both had turns jumping and getting up, tossing and turning. The fan sounded like a helicopter propeller placed near my ear drums, The room was loud. I was not sure thats how everyone feels once you have got too much nicotine in your body.
I felt sick, horrible and so terrible. I wish i could go back in time and changed everything. I did alot of harm than good.
I finally got to sleep around 4 am and by the time it was 7am. My maternal grand mother came with the phone, saying its my cousin Ayan. I love my cousin, so i decided to speak to her although i have a splitting headache that i was unable to get rid of that early.
She gave me the news ,even before greeting me. She was in calling booth and she was charged highly per min and so she needed to get to the message asp. It was like this, "HEY, YOUR DAD IS IN ER< SEND MONEY FOR BILLS"
I told her i will go to the nearest money wiring center and i will definately call back, make sure you have your cell phone. I want to know everything thats going on."next thing i heard was silence, she hang up.
I rushed in the bathroom, Called my sisters and told them of whats happening and they should get ready for some cash.
I had to drive all the way to home get the money and drive back to Mpls to send the cash.
I tried calling home while i was on the way, They told me he was fine, I wanted to speak to him immeadiately and all they could say he was resting after a long night at the hospital and he was finally at home. They managed to pay the bills and so i told them i sent the cash and advised them, make sure he takes his rest and doesnt go to work. I am sure the car garage where he always spends his time triggered this.

I went to my grand mas, everyone waiting with my news and told them he was fine and i sent the cash and i will try calling later tonight when it will be in the morning in Nairobi and talk to him.When i called , i was already teared up and when i heard his husky voice, i broke down. He sounded so weak and lonely for we were all here and he was there by himself. He refused to move here and we miss him. Inshallah am planning to visit him by next summer inshallah.I miss him so much...
He is doing good now, and hope that Allah (swt) will keep in good health and pray for him to prosper. Inshallah Amin.!