1. GELENEKSEL COLUK COMBALAK TOPLASMASI
11.11.2013
If somebody had told me a month ago all the things that happened last night would happen, I could have never believed them! I went to bed around 1 am right after my friends left last night, feeling more for them (although I was also miserable with jet lag) since 3 of my beloved friends had a 6 am flight to catch, and the rest except for the three vacationers among us, had to be at work by 8 am. Despite all the difficulty involved, they all came, after carrying the sweet anticipation in their hearts for weeks just as I did. They all brought lovely, healthy food that they had cooked with their own hands just like I did, for all of us, our commune of 25 years of age. The only pronoun uttered throughout the night was "us" and "we" and "our" just as in the old days. Tears were abundant, but all full of love, longing, and happiness. Laughter was much more abundant, throughout the night, at times reaching the level of screaming in ecstasy, thanks to two of our kids, who played quite a trick on not only us but also on each other! When they did the most unexpected, put all aside and chose to be with us against all odds...
Yildiray and Aysegul
Around 6:30, they started trickling in. Aysegul and Yildiray, Umut's parents came in first. I had met Yildiray through my ex-husband Zeki, who then introduced his lovely wife Aysegul to us. Of course, Aysegul's arms full of sacks, full of her hearty food dishes. We "mourned" over the fact that Zeynep and Umut, our kids weren't able to come, Umut due to his hectic work schedule in Europe, Zeynep due to the distance and schedule conflicts in America. "Oh well" we calmed ourselves down, surely there would be more times to get together with kids and all. We knew at least two kids of our commune were coming, Gulce and Ekin, 5-6 years younger than Umut and Zeynep. We would hug them for all the rest.
Suzan and Levent
Suzan and Levent followed along with their beautiful daughter Gulce, inside and out. Her height was at 25th percentile throughout her toddlerhood. Despite all my predictions that she would probably reach an adult height of 5'2" or 3", she is now 5'8" tall ! Well pediatricians fail sometimes, too… We laugh… We do have 8 pounds of baklava from Gaziantep, the baklava capital of Turkey! Hopefully, the boys will have enough and won't have to fight over it. We all lovingly recall a time when we had gone out to dinner during one of my recent visits to Turkey. Susan had brought 8 pounds of baklava, 4 for us after dinner, 4 as a gift to other friends of theirs to be delivered the next day. We saw very quickly the first 4-lb box being cleared empty. Yildiray and Mehmet were complaining that they had not had enough: However, somebody noticed that their plates were still full of baklava. In no time, Levent discovered that Yildiray and Mehmet had stolen the other box and were serving themselves more and more baklava from under the table! Good thing, he recognized that soon enough, the second box also found its way to ALL of our tummies, certainly with a larger share for Yildiray and Mehmet. When 50 year-old adults act like kids, you know they are with best friends, that’s who we have been for one another for a quarter of a century now, what a bliss…
Ekin, Mehmet and Saniye
The last team we are expecting is Mehmet and Saniye and their children, Ekin, for sure, and perhaps Baris, their son, too. Around 7, we receive a phone call from Mehmet, who finally declares, he is lost. It becomes clear that instead of following my brother's crystal clear directions, he chose to follow his GPS, which was constantly sending him to a section of town quite opposite of where we were. Eventually, his wife and daughter giving him quite a hell made him accept that a human brain still needs to be monitoring these techno junkies and called us to get the directions. Of course we meet them all with quite a bit of laughter and "boooo" for Mehmet taking the remaining of his self-esteem away from the poor guy. Saniye and Ekin are very pleased since they had been struggling with his technology obsession for over half an hour. Baris is missing unfortunately, I am sure, for our second get-together, he will be with us after hearing all of our stories.
Female gang before Zeynep's arrival
After all the greeting hugs and kisses and mini-catch-up conversations, I finally feel having arrived home with them all. The first round of raki is being served gradually, thanks to my brother Mehmet. He is taking care of the ice-cold water, cold raki, ice cubes and all. Levent has already devoured multiple pieces of borek. Several of the men are still teasing our friend Mehmet, for his submission to technology and getting lost. Just as we are settling down, the door-bell rings that sends a cold shiver down my spine: "Who could that be? other than an unexpected, most likely unwanted spontaneous visitor, which potentially might spoil our evening?" Knowing, the visitor is at the ground floor entrance of the apartment building, I volunteer "let's not open the door" knowing too well, that is not possible in Turkey and Kezban my sister-in-law is already at the door letting the unexpected visitor in anyway.
After all the greeting hugs and kisses and mini-catch-up conversations, I finally feel having arrived home with them all. The first round of raki is being served gradually, thanks to my brother Mehmet. He is taking care of the ice-cold water, cold raki, ice cubes and all. Levent has already devoured multiple pieces of borek. Several of the men are still teasing our friend Mehmet, for his submission to technology and getting lost. Just as we are settling down, the door-bell rings that sends a cold shiver down my spine: "Who could that be? other than an unexpected, most likely unwanted spontaneous visitor, which potentially might spoil our evening?" Knowing, the visitor is at the ground floor entrance of the apartment building, I volunteer "let's not open the door" knowing too well, that is not possible in Turkey and Kezban my sister-in-law is already at the door letting the unexpected visitor in anyway.
Raki is a must in Turkish get togethers
There is something unusual, though, Kezban's voice, which is neutral and dull in her "who is it?" escalates into a full-of-pleasant-surprise, rather, feeling-pleasantly-stunned in the following "what do you mean it's me? oh my..." as she opens the door: All of this triggers curiosity in all of us but especially me. I peek through the living room door into the vestibule when Kezban has already opened the door, through which I see something, which makes me feel disoriented. For a second, I ask myself, “where am I, aren’t I in Izmir?” since it is my mischievous daughter, Zeynep, who is entering our vestibule with the most delighted chuckle on her face! It is like a dream, I still can't believe what I see, the little devil, she really tricked me… but I am as delightful as surprised. My entire gang is in our small vestibule now, trying to get a piece of Zeynep. Nobody believes, this is as much a surprise for me as it is for them. Delightful screams, hugs, kisses, laughter fill the space now. I am almost sure Umut will be coming, too, however Zeynep totally denies that. Umut's parents? They do, too, the excuse is, he has to come to Turkey next week, he couldn’t make to trips back to back. Two weeks in a row was not an option. Although, I am ecstatic with Zeyno's arrival, I am a bit disappointed that Umut is not coming since he was the instigator of all this planning by stirring all the emotions from 15-20 years back a few months ago in the first place... I really wish he could have been with us. For some reason, I still have hope…
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| My crazy but lovely daughter's arrival brought tears to many eyes... happy ones, certainly... |
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