Thursday, October 08, 2009

L'hamraak Garagh


This is a type of pumpkin or winter squash that is very common here. It is called in Arabic L'hamraak Garagh, which actually means pregnant pumpkin. I feel like one of those right about now! I long, however, to feel like a glass of overpriced champagne in lieu of desert after a small but satisfying meal of knife and fork eating accompanied by a bottle of red wine.

I have these shoes. They are strappy, gold, high heeled sandals and I usually wear them with this boxy, white silk dress. I bought the ensemble to wear to my dear friend's soft opening for her restaurant. These were one of the three pairs of heels I chose to make this move with me. Today as I was grunting to rub my anti-itch cream all over my swollen body and periodically yelping out in pain from having to turn half an inch to the side, the sudden image of me putting those strappy heels on made me burst out laughing. I was laughing at the pure absurdity it would be to try to shove my "shrek feet" into those strappy gold heels. Never-the-less, I want to be a woman in those heels again! I want to wear red lipstick and show off my legs and show up way over dressed for something. I want to sniff a glass of red wine and act like I know way more about it than I do.

There is a part of me that desperately misses my old bedroom (the last one I occupied before here) because I have so many memories of getting ready for evenings where I felt like that. I often contemplate how my life would have been different had I stayed in Atlanta, what kind of a woman I would have become.

I feel that my twins and this pregnancy are magic, they are my reward for having the courage to leave, not my burden. Had I stayed in Atlanta and not made this move, I wonder if I would have continued to drink away my thirties and find myself ridden hard and hung up wet in 5 years, with no magical African born twins and salt and pepper haired husband to show for it. I often think that is the case.

In this state, in this perpetual state of physical expansion and discomfort, I long to feel like that budding late twenties woman that drank and smoked and still thought that people weren't really as bad as I now know they can be.

3 comments:

Tracie said...

I can't imagine that being a mother means the end of sophistication. Especially for someone as innately sophisticated as you.
Right now, you're full of love and gaining wisdom by the day. I wouldn't trade that for a life in Atlanta for a million dollars.

A Brilliant Life said...

Thanks Tracie! That is sweet. And yea, motherhood, does not mean the end of sophistication but pregnancy sure as hell does!! :) There is just no way to make "the waddle" glamorous!

Anonymous said...

I could totally feel you laughing at your shoes- and yearning for that day to return where you can be your own human being, not 3-in-1. You'll definitely be deserving of that night off, when the kids are with some trusted family member/friend, and you can be just you!
Dawn