7.31.2006

phew.

My parents made it back from Lebanon. My first relief was that I could talk to them face to face and take a break from having my cell phone stuck to my ear. I am so happy they are here, and spent the weekend repeating that over and over again.

I discovered why they sounded really down the day they decided to leave. From a map on this excellent blog I saw that their village was bombed. I had no idea how close, but from the lonely blue circle in the center of the map I knew it had just happened that day.


by mazen kerbaj

One of my first comments when they arrived was "your village got bombed, didn't it?" They were totally shocked that I found out. Turns out the bomb* landed a kilometer away from their house, at 5am. They slept through it, but their maid on the upper level felt the whole house shake. It was that bomb, and all my persistent phone calls, that pushed them to leave.

My grandmother, uncle, aunt, and their families all made it back to Houston. My aunt and her son made cover page news in Beaumont, TX. I would tell you about my brother's escape to Jordan, but a cousin was with him on the journey and wrote an article about it here.

I can't believe this madness has already been going on for 20 days.

Please, someone, make it stop.

*The bomb that landed a kilometer away from out house hit a bunch of sheep.

6 comments:

Stef said...

That's a powerful cartoon. I'm so glad you can put the cell phone aside and actually talk to your family in person. I hope this all ends soon.

Reya Mellicker said...

Thank god your family is safe. I'm praying for all the rest of the people who are still there in Lebanon and in Israel, people who don't care about anything but living in peace with each other, people who are vociferous but still they shouldn't be hurt. It's a difficult practice. I wish some diplomat would rise up out of the nowhere to make sense of this. But anyway your family is OK. Thank god.

Anonymous said...

So glad they made it here safe.

rania said...

Thanks, everyone. Also, thank you DCBlogs for linking here! I wish I could get all my friends and family out, but they don't want to leave their homes. So many innocent people have become victims of this tragedy.

What happened to the old days where people just dueled instead of wiped out entire countries?

Anonymous said...

I am so glad everyone in your family is safe. such relief for you.

Regina said...

I can't even imagine how worried you must have been. I'm so happy that you have been reunited and are all safe.