Destination Gauntanamo Bay

Sadia part 1..  

The school holidays are a few months away and I keep nagging Abdullah to take us on a holiday. I’ve been wanting to go to Pakistan but my five year old was determined to go to Disney land while my seven year old insisted on London. So here I am hoping Abdullah will concede and take us somewhere amazing. 

The great thing about Abdullah is that even though we’ve been married for nine years he still acts like we’re dating . I often get roses delivered or taken out to a fancy dinner. Abdullah and I met during our first year of campus. We were both studying medicine and we hit it off immediately. He was religiously inclined and had amazing eyes both things were very attractive. A few months later we got married and the rest is history. I completed my studies despite having kids very early into the marriage mostly because my in-laws were loving, supportive and great at babysitting. I didn’t become a surgeon like I planned but opted to be a GP instead because the times would be more conducive to raising a family.

Nadia is seven and she has Abdullah wrapped around her little finger while Ahmed who is five seems to get away with everything. Abdullah is the amazing, hands on dad you read about. Every night before bed he reads the kids the stories of the prophets. He maintains that if you want pious children you have to raise them on stories of the righteous people who came before. Each prophet had miracles; a little bit of action and there was always some romance thrown in for good measure. He believed that it was far better to read to them about the mercy of the creator and our history instead of the usual make believe stuff. Even though he is on call often he still makes the time at night to tuck his kids into bed. The small things he does makes him perfect for me. 

When I asked about our holiday he didn’t refuse or agree he just said… if Allah wills. So I was optimistic and started packing anyway. Planning this is fun but packing with kids makes me wonder if the 30 kg weight limit per person is enough? Indians always over pack we act like the country we’re visiting has no shops or food and so we pack everything and sometimes we even include home cooked meals. Just this morning my mother in-law was insisting that we take Ahmed’s favourite chicken nuggets along, in case they don’t sell them in London.

 

I can’t wait for the adventure.  

by mumtaz saley