My teta Hiam’s favorite story to tell me, and the one that always brings a smile to her face and mine, is about how she met my jeddo Abbas. They were introduced at the house next door (sadly demolished in 2020) to my teta’s building, which also happens to be where my mother and I were both raised in and currently reside. My teta’s neighbor invited her to breakfast, and my grandfather, a friend of the neighbor’s extended family, was also invited that morning.
After making small talk, my grandfather invited her to a political gathering that was happening the next day at the nearby Le Bristol Hotel. When she walked in the next day, he was waiting for her in the salon. She asked “Where is the meeting?” To which he replied, ‘Forget about the meeting. Let’s go get coffee.”
He hailed a taxi and the rest is my history.
أقرب قصة إلى قلبي والتي دائمًا ما تثير ابتسامة تيتا هيام وابتسامتي هي قصتها مع جدي عباس. التقت تيتا بجدي في المنزل المجاور (الذي تم هدمه للأسف في عام 2020) لمبنى تيتا، وهو ذات المكان الذي نشأت فيه أنا وأمي وما زلنا نعيش فيه. دعتها جارة تيتا لتناول الإفطار، وكان جدي، صديق عائلة الجارة، مدعوًا أيضًا لتلك الصباح.
بعد الحديث الودي، دعاها جدي إلى تجمع سياسي كان مقررًا في اليوم التالي في فندق لو بريستول القريب. وعندما دخلت في اليوم التالي، كان في انتظارها في الصالون. سألت “أين الاجتماع؟” فرد قائلاً، ‘انسَ الاجتماع. دعينا نذهب لتناول القهوة.’
استقل سيارة أجرة، ومن ثم بدأت قصة حياتنا.
Ruwan Teodros
Ruwan is a Lebanese-Ethiopian copywriter and photographer who splits her time between Lebanon and the United States. With a keen eye for the unnoticed, her focus is on slowing down the pace of her home city, Beirut, capturing fleeting, intimate moments among its people and their environment that might otherwise be lost.
- Ruwan Teodros
- Ruwan Teodros
- Ruwan Teodros
