A Fairytale?

The other night, N and I had a couple over for dinner. They are new friends. The wife is from this area and the husband is from Albania. The dinner was very nice and the conversation lively.

The husband, I’ll call him Tim, was so enthusiastic, it was inspiring. Tim told us how he grew up in communist Albania and how it was very strict with very little freedoms. Tim’s family is Muslim, but he did not know this since no one had the freedom to discuss their religious affiliation. Tim talked about how his parents used to tell him stories and parables about the Prophet and the Koran, but without naming the Prophet or citing a religion. So the stories he learned were like fables and fairytales.

Now, Tim has fled that oppressive life and come to America. He is so happy to be here; almost like a kid at an amusement park. Throughout the dinner, Tim was on the edge of his seat asking N questions about Islam. He is trying to discern what he knows and what he doesn’t and put all the pieces of the puzzle together.Tim is so in love with his new found religion that at one point he jumped out of his seat and proclaimed “I love my religion!” Wow. I was so amazed to see this behavior.

I wonder if I will ever allow myself to feel that level of enthusiasim.

I just took N to the airport. We had such a wonderful week. He'll be back Friday to help in my last day of work celebration. This past weekend was Mom's retirement celebration. The whole fam. is going through changes.