Viva A7matia!

My brother’s birthday was yesterday. We met in the morning and I was so consumed in my plans that I totally forgot that it’s his birthday. Well, I have to admit that – being the Islamist that I’ve become – I don’t really celebrate birthdays now. But, well, I should still be a considerate Islamist, I could have at least said happy birthday, given him a small wish. Eventually I was overwhelmed with shame when he came home late at night with the cake!!! Gush!

So as a tribute to my brother, I’m gonna say a couple of words that I had on my mind for some time. My relationship with my brother has gone through different stages. When we fought we usually had the worst fight, yet we were mostly friends. We were always partners in crime – from tricks on the family to his smoking experiments as a young kid, and his sneaking out of school some days and his traveling in college. As you can see, the secrets were mostly his, and I was mostly the silent collaborator.

And you know what, years later now, it is mostly the same. I’m way different from before, and we have very different lifestyles. But still so close and so much the same, as I see it. He’d still come and tell me all his stories about his travels, the fun, the fights, even some of his 'classified' information. And I’d still listen all the same. Few times I play the wise one, but most of the times I just enjoy the amusement of new stories.

I’ll even tell you a secret. Half the books I read, it was him who recommended them. It’s true that I end up studying them so well, and he just flips through them quickly but I still owe him a lot. I owe him a lot more than that actually. He has always been my window to the world – sometimes the crime world but it doesn’t matter : ) . He’d always see things from a side that I never saw.

I’m a big girl in the world now with big stuff in my head, but, hey, A7matia, thought I might tell you, great having you around, man!