We went home
Shiny lady in blue and gold told me it will be okay
By Mary Haidari
February 28, 2001
The Iranian
I met my husband in college. I was asked by a professor to help some
of the international students with English. My husband was in the first
group. I'll call him "John". He was from Abadan, Iran. We dated
for a while, and finally married. He finished his degree, while I worked
to support him. After a few years, he attained his B.S. degree from a university
in Florida, and we made plans to go to Iran and live.
In preparation for my journey, I learned Farsi, learned about the culture
and began to study Islam. By the time we were ready to leave for Iran,
I considered myself a student of Islam. I was also the proud mother of
a three-year-old son who was going to Iran to meet his father's family
for the first time.
Iran was beautiful, the family was kind and generous and welcoming,
the culture was charming, and Islam was the salvation of my soul. However,
we couldn't find a job - I could, courtesy of an American uncle who worked
in Tehran - but I politely declined. I thought it might be insulting to
his family for me to work while he didn't have a job.
Unfortunately again, history was working against us since the year of
our "return" to Iran was 1977. The mood in Iran began to change
drastically, and we decided to make our way back to America where jobs
awaited BOTH of us.
We returned to the U.S. in June of 1978. Four months later, our second
son was born. Only months before the Islamic Revolution began to take form
, God had given us a way out of Iran before it became impossible. Allah-o-Akbar.
Those of you who were there, know what agonies we all faced during the
dark period between Iran and America, as well as the horrible war with
Iraq.
We had no idea where my husband's family was -- if they were alive or
dead. After many years a cousin finally wrote to someone we knew over here
and we found one of John's brothers. He was working in another city. Sadly,
John's mother had died during the war with Iraq -- while feeding the soldiers
and brave souls at the front lines in Abadan.
Some of his other family members had died as well, and unfortunately
we could not go to Iran to be with any of them. We went through many letters,
and finally phone calls -- and even more recently, some emails.
Fade into the year 2000. My husband had to have emergency heart bypass
surgery last year, around Christmas holidays. During that time, I prayed
to Allah and all of the Imams so that my husband would be well again. The
night before his surgery, I had a revelation in a dream -- John's mother
came to me dressed in her chador and with her was a very shiny lady in
blue and gold.
She told me John would be fine, and that when he recovers I should go
to Iran. I argued with her in my dream and told her that it was possible
to travel to Iran, because of the situation between the two countries and
because of our lack of documents. John's mother told me to relax and not
to worry, that though it looked hard now, there would be a way and we would
go to Iran.
The shiny lady told me to come see her in her city, and then showed
me a beautiful city with golden domes on the buildings. She said when I
came to Iran, I should feed 100 people in the name of John's mother.
When I woke up, I knew John would be fine. And fine he was, and after
many years of not being able to get a visa or passport, finally we both
received our passports from the Iranian Interests Section in Washington,
D.C. When we got off the BA jet in Tehran, I was amazed by the welcome
we received -- not just my husband, but me as well.
Everyone was so kind and so happy to see us in Iran. We made our pilgrimage
to Qom, as John's father told us that the shiny lady in my dream was actually
Hazrat Massoumeh -- Allah-o-Akbar! We truly went home, and were welcomed
after 22 years. We were able to visit John's mother's grave and we washed
it with holy water and found a cleric to pray over her grave every week
this year.
I was able to tell her that I had fulfilled my promise -- because when
we left Iran 22 years ago, she had made me promise to return to Iran with
John. I stood at her grave and told her that I had fulfilled that promise
and that her son was here in Iran again.
I just would like to say thank you to all of you Iranian people who
maintain this web site for all of us. It truly is wonderful to be able
to jump on the web and read articles by and for Iranians, read current
news and events and issues for Iranian people. You truly provide a link
to Iran for many of us.
Although I am American by birth, I feel very strongly about Iran and
Iranian issues. I also have Farsi as my second language, and Islam as my
religion. Thank you for letting me share my story.
