Small Blessings
Reflecting on time spent with little ones
Blessed or not with children of my own flesh, I can still feel the overwhelming joy of holding my nieces and nephew close. To bask in their warmth and innocent, untarnished love.
Whenever I get the chance to visit them, I always think of Mariam, in Hosseini’s masterpiece A Thousand Splendid Suns. How her heart melts when Aziza attaches herself to her after a whole life of false affection.
“Why have you pinned your little heart to an old, ugly hag like me?” Mariam would murmur into Aziza’s hair.
“I am nobody, don’t you see? A dehati. What have I got to give you?”
But Aziza only muttered contentedly and dug her face in deeper. And when she did that, Mariam swooned. Her eyes watered. Her heart took flight. And she marvelled at how, after all these years of rattling loose, she had found in this little creature the first true connection in her life of false, failed connections.”
— A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
And how in the end, she peacefully chooses to give up her life to give them the life she dreamt for them.
“For me it ends here. There’s nothing more I want. Everything I’d ever wished for as a little girl you’ve already given me. You and your children have made me so very happy. It’s all right, Laila jo. This is all right. Don’t be sad.”
— A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
Though the bless I have feels unfair, when many parents are losing their children…and many children are waking up to a life devoid of their parents, homes, hope…pray for Gaza. Pray for Gaza.
