Super Special Birthday Tribute–Marwa Moharram

My first ever interaction with Marwa was when I heard her giving English lessons to the rest of her team; word of the day. I thought it was strange and sort of fake; normal people didn’t do that! Marwa isn’t a normal person of course which is why she became on the top of my “absolutely adore” list. I don’t really remember how we got to know each other, I think Ragia was the one who introduced us. So there she was, the tall skinny girl with the long braid and great smile, finally my friend.

First of all, I’m writing this on the occasion of Marwa’s birthday, Happy Birthdaaaaaaay! I just need to note that Marwa may have added a year to her age but she is the youngest person I know; if anyone refuses to grow up successfully while not being an idiot, it’s her. She has the spirit of an eight year old, starting from how everything in life is awe inspiring, how laughing is the cure for everything, and how so adorably cute she gets, to how easily it is to get her to not be mad at you anymore – of course her getting mad also happens in a very eight-year-old way.

Second of all, I should have written this the moment her evil husband decided to ship her off the UK with him (sorry but he really is evil for taking my best friend away!), for some reason I didn’t. I discovered a more amazing Marwa after she went away; a friend who manages to still care for everyone thousands of miles away. I don’t know how she does it, but she is definitely “awesome,” she has proved over and over and over again that if I ever need a friend, she’s it! she has had a series of unfortunate events that started ever since she went to live in Reading, and haven’t ended yet apparently; the girl is very accident prone! But as horrible as that all is, she still managed to laugh, smile, joke, be nice, sweet, and friendly, with everyone, and I mean EVERYONE!

Third of all, I just want to admit that no matter what I say, it will never be enough to describe the amazing girl that she really is, partly because there are sides to her I am sure I haven’t seen yet, and more importantly, because words fail to describe people like her.

Here are a couple of things that everyone needs to know about Marwa. She’s bright, cheerful, optimistic, happy even in her darkest moments, she has a spirit of a bumblebee, and her heart is probably as big as a whale’s! she is one of the most intelligent people I know, dedicated, loving, passionate, compassionate, and simply adorable. She lets go of the bad stuff even though she’s seen tons of them, she has a knack for making people happy, which she is quite talented at, and is great with kids. She has excellent taste in everything in the world, from music to clothes to friends (which explains me of course). She is a coffee addict, she is THE expert on relationship advice, and she can kick life in the tushy whenever she feels like it. she has no slang Arabic repository that makes me look like I’ve been living in the streets all my life, not that I mind in the least; calls for a few laughs which she takes heartily and we spend hours laughing at each other. And, she goes through the highest number of mishaps that I have ever seen a single person going through, literally!

On my birthday, she went out of her way, a lot, to make me a birthday that wasn’t a bad memory, and it was and always will be my best birthday ever, and I will always remember her and say a little prayer for her every time I see something relating to friends, how I met your mother, or the muppet show. I am lucky to have met her and unlucky that she had to go to the ends of the earth (just UK but I have to mind the dramatic effect) in less than a year. Oh well, she’s bound to come back ;)

 

Our favorite song :)

Kill The Child

Kill the child
Kill the child
The child has hope
Kill the child

The eyes did open
No more fear
But only to see a million eyes shut
The door did open
To invite in the world
But only the nothing let itself in
Kill the child
Kill the child
The child lost fear
Kill the child
Poor girl
Poor world
To see the curse
And curse the eyes
Blame the child
Kill the child
Burn the child
But don't open your eyes
Double lock those doors
Stop the nothing without
And make due with the nothing within
But don't forget
To kill the child

The Theory of Family

I don’t think I even need to theorize family like I did with friends and work. We all got them, we all know them, we all love them, and we all hate them. Talk about complications! Oh well, here goes:

• They are just there, always have been, always will be. Even when we think we’d do good to cut them all off, it always turns out to be a bad idea.
• In the worst moments ever, I am a gazillion percent sure my brother will be there for me.
• My mom is the most difficult person to ever deal with, ever, EVER! But I love her to death and so as we say in Egypt “like honey for my heart” (على قلبي زي العسل)
• There will always be those people who will blame you for not calling them, and they will always shut up when you tell them that they don’t call either!
• The easiest way to neutralize weird family members is to call them up and say hello every once in a while.
• Aside from immediate family, there will always be the cool aunt and the quirky uncle who you just love to death.
• Yes, family is full of assholes, so is the rest of the world, so don’t worry, no family is devoid of such creatures.
• Thank God we only have to deal with some family members on special occasions, a person simply cannot take all that much family throughout the whole entire year!
• Yes, yes, yes, it is the most difficult thing in the world to call up a family member or hang out with family, but it really doesn’t go on forever.
• Some cousins are really cool, THANK GOD!
• Aunts and uncles tell the best stories about the good old times, and when your mom used to wear miniskirts *wink wink*
• Lifetime guarantee that at least someone will be there when no one else is.
• Since today is the first day of feast, they’re good for some money (sometimes)
• Family members are the most judgmental people on earth, sometimes for your own good but most times because they just think they have the right to judge. In both cases, it gives you some immunity from the rest of the world on that front.
• Family members almost always stick their noses where they don’t belong, and sometimes they need to blow their noses first before sticking them there. The bright side is, you can always tell them to “booger off” and still be on talking terms *another wink wink*
• No matter how bad things get, remember that the uncle is your father’s brother; your father wouldn’t like you to treat his brother badly, neither would you like anyone to treat your brother badly.
• Grandparents are the most fun people to annoy EVER!
• Blood really is thicker than water, it’s simply fluid mechanics!
• Remember that there is mercy in staying in touch with family, so keep the merciful connection open.

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A Tribute to My Best Friends (5)

Noha Omar

She is always Noha Omar, never just Noha, never Nou, never N, but always Noha Omar, however sometimes when she’s driving, she becomes Noha ya Omar; Egyptians will relate.

She is this very quiet person I saw at my latest job, the first thing I noticed about her is that she wears sweatshirts, something not a lot of girls do, and I thought she must be interesting because I always used to wear sweatshirts until very recently. She was friends with everyone and everyone loved her. I think she loves everyone too, however silently as she is. As soon we got finally introduced which I don’t remember how or when, we clicked. Its very rare that you meet a person who genuinely cares about people without making a scene out of it. she holds her feelings to herself most of the time though, and she is one tough nut to crack in that specific area. But it is always obvious when she is OK and when she isn’t, which makes it all the worse if she happens to be down and you just can’t get through to help her, or at least be a girl and listen if you – I –can’t help.

Noha is a lovely person with this amazingly toothy smile that lights up everything in the world. when she gets hyper she acts like a little kid, very silly and amazingly adorable. For some reason she tries to cut her laughs in the middle, I don’t understand why, and she never used to know how to hug! I mean I’ve met people who have cold hugs, or unresponsive hugs, but they are still huggable. Noha, however, wasn’t! she now hugs very well, thanks to me of course since I taught her, and she has one of the warmest sweetest hugs ever. She knows how to see the good and only the good in people, so does Nihal Elgendy, her friend and mine, and it amazes me very much, not to mention annoys me because sometimes the bad in people far outweighs the good in them and yet they still see them as good!

She always brings me snickers and I always eat her food, she’s generous and she doesn’t mind to the extent that I stopped asking for permission, rude I know, but what are friends for if not feeding their needy selfish friends, a.k.a me, and even when I bring her mars and flutes (since I’ve learned that she’s probably the only girl I know who DOES NOT like snickers), she ends up getting me more snickers. I blame her for getting fat by the way. I am also highly inclined to take her shopping for headscarves one day because all the ones she has –wears –are white and I’m pretty sure she’d look amazing in other colors as well.

One day, she told me that my friends are very friendly, as two of my friends whom she doesn’t know sent her friend requests on Facebook. They usually don’t do that, but I guess they finally did. Both of them said it’s because her posts are really good and they are just dying to like them and can’t. she really does have amazing posts; they’re all filled with strong genuine emotion that is always good and positive, even when she is sad. She is one of those people who never learn that people can be bad and it always hurts her when they are. I don’t think it’s a good thing, but it’s definitely fitting her amazingly innocent profile.

She’s fun to hangout with, and it’s enough to just have her around to feel good, or at least okay; not bad anymore. She’s one of those people I thank God for having in my life, and even if she weren’t in my life, I’d thank God that she simply exists in the world.

As for me, I appreciate her and love her for understanding that I can’t be a good friend sometimes, and I lose touch with the world at other times. She is patient with me and I love her for it, as for everything else that is Noha Omar. I’m pretty sure that if she ever lets me know who actually annoys her, I’d go hit them for her because I know she won’t hit them herself, maybe scream at them (although I still doubt it), but she’ll never hit them. How someone could be such a pacifist is beyond me! But then again, we learn from people like her that forgiveness works best, even if it hurts her sometimes.

So, Noha Omar, my dear dear dear friend, I wish you wellness, I wish you happiness, and I wish you peace of mind, because you deserve all the best that the world has to offer.

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