Part
1
September 27, 2003
The Iranian
It all began on November 3, 2001. It was a night that I will never forget and it changed my life for the
better. So far anyway. I can tell you that I have
had my ups and downs since then but I sure have lived
it to the fullest. Rather than sitting on the side
lines of life and just watching others I have decided
to challenge myself a bit.
So what am I talking about? Let me give you a little
history before diving into this story.
I was born in Abadan, Iran, at the tip of the Persian Gulf,
in 1973. My dad worked for the Iranian oil company and my mom
was
a home
maker.
Life was good. And I can say I surely enjoyed life
during those days. At least until I had to go to
school. That wasn't too easy. I remember my
classmates having a hard time staying up (after
lunch). But who can blame them? It was hot down
there. I still don't know how I survived those years.
Anyway I digress. So 1980 rolled around and Iran was
invaded by Iraq. Abadan was one of the first cities
attacked and we were one of the last ones evacuate. My parents
believed the war was going to be done in a day or two. Alas that
was not the
case. So we set out for Ahvaz, less than 100 miles to the north,
with thousands of others. Our neighbor was a nurse so we took
her
kids
to safety while she and her husband stayed behind to
help the soldiers.
Being kids we didn't really understand what was
happening, all we could think about was the fact that
five of us (my brother, the neighbor's kids and I)
were behind my dad's Buick and were having fun.
We get to Ahvaz and just as we stop to say hi to my
great uncle, two Iraqi jets try to destroy the bridge
we needed to cross. Luckily my dad's wish of stopping to say
hi was a good decision. We then realized that
Ahvaz was not the best place to stay either.
At that time they were evacuating women and children
from the city and thus my mom, two of my uncles and us
five kids were on our way - by train to Arak, closer to Tehran.
Being on a train was very exciting. It was my first
time and I intended to explore it to the max.
I kept
going up to sleep on the bed which I thought was the
coolest thing ever. Except by the time I would get up
there, I would look down and notice how much fun
everyone else was having below. So then I would
ask for help and climb down. Five minutes would pass and
I realized I really needed to be on the bed. This
routine (unfortunately for my uncles) continued all
the way up to Arak.
We finally got to my uncle's house in Arak and
realized that some 30 people, also refugees, were jammed in
there. Apparently his house had become the central relocation
unit for all of my mom's relatives. We sure had a
fun year ahead of us >>> Go
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