My Emotional reunion with me.
The veins on the back of my hands are pronounced. My
skin bears lines of age... My wedding band, is tight on my once slim finger...
My red manicure is meticulously clean. And am staring at the computer screen.
I am back in Fresno, ... Well, actually Clovis!
Getting ready to go back to my 30th high school reunion. And all morning,
as i was driving up to this small town, that is no longer small, I have been
tripping back ...
To those who came to the United States right after the
Islamic Revolution of 1978, at the time of the Hostage crisis, my story will
sound familiar... To those Iranians,... no, better yet, Eye-ranians, who ended
up in the American smaller towns, my story will reverberate on a cellular
level.
I was the Unibrowed, Mustachoi'd, eye-ranian, camel
jockey, sand-nigger, ... That's how some would call me. I had left Iran,
exiled. I had left in fear of religious persecution. Our home, our land,
our properties, our house, our existence seized and forfeited. Exiled
from a land that had cradled my lineage for 2500 years.
Only to end up here, in the land of
Freedom, socially ostracized. And since i had skipped a couple of grades, i was
younger than most my classmates. Add to that, a Unibrow and mustachoi'd DNA and
my strict parents who wouldn't allow me to wear make up to school. Well,
you get the idea. I remember walking on Campus one day, only to see the roof of
the Cafeteria painted in Blue [the school colors, how spirited!] in huge block
letters to read: "BOMB IRAN' .... and while i'd walk down the hallways,
the kids would sing, "bomb bomb bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" , to the tune
of the Beach Boys' Barbara Ann
What i lacked for in beauty and grace, i made up for in
ambition, brains, wit, and energy. I was socially awkward, shy, uncomfortable
in my own skin, and unable to find a place for myself in my class... I was
resolved not to back down. I decided that if i wasn't going to be the most
popular, i was going to be the most successful.
Oh, how life passes by quickly... Oh, how it all happened
in the blink of an eye... Well, the ugly duckling didn't quite evolve into a
fabulous White Swan... but, hey, i didn't turn out that bad either! ... And my
dreams,.. oh, my dreams, and my amibtions! oh, how i fell short of my
self-imposed mark. How, as i look back, i realize that i missed out on so many
opportunities, and how, at so many critical cross roads, i made the wrongs
choices.
I had my eyes set on Washington D.C., on politics, on the
House and on the Senate. I had dreams of the United Nations. I had dreams of
negotiating treaties, and world issues such as Nuclear Proliferation, World
Hunger and World peace... The fervor of my ambitions kept me up at night. The
intensity of my passions, desires and ambitions made me well up in tears and
cry when i'd sit down to write my 1 year, 3 year, 5 year and 10 year plans.
Who would have ever thought i'd end up where i am today?
Not in my wildest dreams, did i ever think i'd be where i am today. If
anyone told me that 30 years down the line, i'd be where i am today, i'd laugh
and say: "FAIL"...
As i am getting dressed for my reunion, I close my eyes and
breathe in slowly, feeling the slightest movement of air within my lungs as my
chest upheaves ... And so, i go back 30 years today. My memory is packed with
thousands of fantabulous memories, and a billion plans still float around the
inner sanctum that is within my head... My life has been a bright, colorful,
exciting, interesting, satisfying, demanding, exhausting, difficult saga of
personal risks, triumphs, successes and failures, of love and loss, of ups and
downs, of laughters, tears & defeat. And most importantly, of risks
taken, mistakes made and success realized because i was so afraid of living
with regrets and dying young, that i didn't back down from ANY opportunity
often missing the real ones. Or did I?
I go back 30 years today... not so much to meet my friends.. but
in essence, to meet my self. To drink and celebrate a life well lived,
lines well worn, girth well earned, and pride well deserved. I am so very far
from that Ugly Duckling... so very very very far from that insecure, scared,
lonely, lost little girl. I am so proud of all the woman that i have become and
i so relish the power of my womanhood and feminity in all my glory.
Alaleh Kamran
CDAK
June 22, 2012
Fresno
In Anticipation of attending my 30th High School Reunion.
