Our friends left and I don’t suspect they’ll ever return. We have their teapot and their book which are lovely, but will never be as lovely as they were.
Our sons are best friends. Because I’m {that} kind of mama, when my son left his email open, of course, I read it! Their last words to each other before the flight:
May Allah always guide you to the right path! (My son).
May Allah accept all of your duaas (prayers)! (Her son).
I took my boy out for ice cream after they left, but it didn’t even taste sweet.
I picked up their book and read it to my children to pass the hour before bedtime.
“‘Come, there’s no use in crying like that! …I advise you to leave off this minute.’ She [Alice in Wonderland] generally gave herself very good advice (though she seldom followed it).”
How I wish, this time, that I were not exactly like Alice. If only there were no rabbit holes for friends to slide down- to places we cannot reach. I wish there were no keys to open doors and magic potions to make friends shrink down well enough to walk through; so far that we cannot even see them in the distance. Gone, gone….
We took a long walk, but we did not find them. The berries we ate in summer and the greenery that surrounded us have vanished. Autumn hung by a thread, with only specks of color.
Seasons turn familiar ground into new territory. Change is the only constant, which doesn’t sullen the mood of some who know.
But not me and not him – not today, anyway.
These are the days of vexing thorns and longing for what can never be {again}.
Oh Lord! Oh Compassionate and Merciful. Oh Most Kind and All-Sufficient….suffice us.
Collard Green Muslim 
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