Real Conversation

So, for the first time since before I left for ALIM (in July) I had a full conversation with my mother.

Pretty sad eh.

Eh.

I graduated.

I left for ALIM.

The day I came back from ALIM I left for VCU.

Attended classes.

ISNA 2005!

My sister Nada's nikkah.

Back to school.

Ramadan.

Now: Sisters Wedding Reception November 19th 2005
The purpose of the Unus family's existance. Just kidding. Well not really. But ALLHUMDUILAH.

So between all the milestone events and the everchanging atomospheres and adjustment to new and sometimes extreme situations and circumstances, I hardly had a moment, nor did my mother, to just talk.

Today, I spent a trip to Target and a cup of tea recapping my life since ALIM till now.

It was about time.

It wasn't conveying the information that meant anything at all. It was simply the act of having the conversation that really mattered.

Though I could tell that her mind was on other things, my sisters wedding reception for one, I came to realize that she really was listening to everything I was saying.

On my way to the store she asked me about my MSA VA Council meeting.

I spent about 5 minutes going on about MSA National and her response: "Oh no, I forgot to give Nada the card..."

20 minutes later she repeated almost verbatim what I had told her in that 5 minutes as she was relating it to something I had said only minutes before.

It was then that I began to fully appreciate how sincerely she was listening to me babble on about something that hardly had any significance all the while sorting out the 20 thousand other things she had going on in her mind.

Here I was, little Wafa Unus, come home from college to help out with the wedding. The house is in chaos. A million things still need to be done. My sisters' stuff all over the living room waiting to be packed. My parents preparing things for her move to Jordan. My mom sewing my clothes for the shadi. A wedding reception in less than a week and what feels like 20,000 guest left to confirm for attendance. Of course there's the arrangements for the family and hotel rooms and the whole works.

And my mom taking out time to walk around a store for no apparent reason just so that she would have the opportunity to talk to me.

Subhanallah.

The best part was how nice it felt.

Even better was seeing how truly and geniuenly happy it made her.

May Allah bestow his barakah on ALL our parents and may He give them the best in this life and in the next.

May Allah make US the best of children and help us to please our parents even if it is at the expense of our own comforts.

Ameen.