mary e. robbins :: moth written

thanksgiving and eid

thankful for so many many things.

and this year, thanksgiving came to our house, with about 15 folks present to share the day.  mom tackled the cooking, i tackled the cleaning, and eating was a joint effort shared by all attendees.  in my flurry of activity i took no photos during the day--!  but the memory will last forever.  thank you, family and friends.

following thanksgiving by one lone day this year was eid al kebir--!  dear kristan and reddad came up from boston-land to celebrate both holidays with us, and what a great few days it has been.

reddad brought a large box of spices and ingredients to make cous cous, and that's just what we did yesterday.

rolling hot hot cous cous with olive oil and salt, fresh off the steamer.  a test of one's threshold for heat.  nabil had never attempted this before, and he admitted that the women in his family must have much tougher hands than he.  ::ouch:: a bit.

 

but as always, the effort and the smidge of pain were worth it, and we were rewarded with a steaming mountain of moroccan cous cous, made right here in our northeast corner of the united states.

thankful.

a very special request

a few months back i received a message from a girl in oklahoma.  she had ordered a set of  custom couples "i love _____" tees from the shop for herself and her boyfriend, mohammad.  i gladly printed up her t shirts and sent them out into the world.  not too long after her initial purchase, this sweet lady found me on facebook and i saw her smiling face, wearing her 'i love mohammad' t shirt proudly.  

a number of weeks ago, this same sweet customer wrote to me with a special request.  this will be mohammad's first time celebrating christmas with her family, and she wanted to mark the occasion with a special gift--a custom christmas stocking.

it was, to date, the sweetest custom request i have received. 

and i am so very happy to say that the results warmed my heart just as much as the initial request.

mohammad's stocking is simple, bearing only his name in arabic and the year to mark his first celebration of these cultural rituals.  there was one final addition i made to the stocking as a surprise for alexzandria and mohammad--a late night last minute inspiration which sent me flying to all the local somali markets in search of the perfect piece.  in the end i found it, and it was just as i had hoped. 

i sent the stocking to alexzandria this weekend.  when i know that she has the stocking in hand, i'll share the little surprise here.

***

there are many things i could say about cultural division and the disheartening tendency of humans to continuously cite differences among us rather than commonalities.  it is easier for humans, it seems,  to 'stick to what one knows.'  the beauty found in the struggle to create a meaningful and loving relationship across such deep cultural lines is one that has forever touched my own life.  for mohammad and alexzandria, i can only wish the same.

eid mobarak, happy thanksgiving.

time out chicago!

a few weeks back i was contacted by lissa bennett of time out chicago with a request to feature the 'i love chicago' tee we made for the renegade chicago show.  i was (and continue to be!) immensely flattered.  today i received an email from a chicagoan who had seen the write up and photo, and i had to dash off right away to see the feature!  we were featured as part of the 'around town holiday gift guide'.  thank you, lissa bennett and time out chicago!

 

five years.

five years ago today, nabil and i went into a tiny little office with a keyhole door off the bustling strip of boukroune market to sit down with a very old man wearing a thick, dusty, rust colored djellaba and say the words that would bond us together as husband and wife. 

five years.

it has been quite a journey.

a few months before our marriage, my mum came to visit morocco with our family friend, ingrid.  she took this photo on the day we visited the hassan II mosque in casablanca.  

five years.

 

and this morning i woke up at 6:15, an hour after nabil had left for work, in the dark.  on the kitchen table he left me this note.  "will you marry me?"  i ask him almost every day.  and almost every day, he says yes. 

happy anniversary

i'm looking forward for the future together

full with love and happiness

i love you

and i'm asking you if you can marry me

also i would love to take you for a date today

love

husband nabil