Mixed Blessings

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 Mixed Blessings 


 by Andrea Lena DiMaggio 


“You’re ….”

“Impossible, my friend. Say it.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of exasperating,” Sameh laughed and kissed Miriam.

“What will we tell your parents?” Hell, what will we tell my parents?”

“That we are both people of the book. Depending upon whom you consult, I suppose,” he laughed again. It really wasn’t a laughing matter, but humor served on occasion to diffuse the tension created by so many of their choices.

Sameh had chosen Med school, which was a good idea. That he interned at Cedars of Sinai not so much, but his parents were merely uncomfortable with how their family back home would see things. The same concern likely drove them to move to the United States since neither parent had ever intended or even considered doing what was expected.

And Miriam had chosen Sameh, which was not just a bad idea but a sad one as well, since her mother stopped talking to her. Her father had stopped talking to her only a few years before when David Jr. had made the choice to transition. Not the choice to be a woman; of that there had been never any doubt in her mind. The choice to follow through with the needed adjustments that allowed her to express outwardly what she contained without word for years inwardly. It wasn’t quite a popular idea post-decision with Sameh’s parents, but they loved him and he loved Miriam.

“Insha'Allah,” his father Jamal had said with a shrug. Whatever Miriam was, it was who she was that mattered to both Jamal and Dimah. Odd that the man would be beautiful and the woman would be the prayer, but that defined their relationship, because Jamal was a beautiful human being. And Dimah was his prayer warrior in a way; the one who reminded him where the character in his heart originated.

David and Beth, on the other hand, were much slower to accept the union because they were slow to accept the ones who united. But finally David had come around to loving his daughter. Almost words out of a movie or story, but he uttered them anyway, ‘life is too short’ when he had the second of two heart attacks and realized that both Beth and Miriam had hardly left his side. The devotion of a child rejected by the devotee turned his eyes to her and his heart to the truth; that he indeed had a daughter to be treasured even if she started out differently.

And the stalwart support that Sameh gave Miriam the entire time both parents had rejected her turned Beth’s heart as well. To know that the man’s love for her child was unending? Undaunted? Unashamed? How could she do less?

And so on the anniversary of their meeting; the 2nd of April, 2015 CE; the 13th of Nisan, 5775; and the 12th of Jumaada al-Thaany, 1436 A.H., Sameh Gamil and Miriam Hershlag rented a nice apartment in a three story walk up on the upper East Side of Manhattan.

Little steps, folks….

Chag Sameach, As-salamu alaykum, and have a wonderful weekend!

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Comments

Republican or Democrat

Rhona McCloud's picture

Being non-American I find the union of Jewish and Islamic families easier to understand than the divisions within America. To the couple and you Andrea… "Sláinte"

Rhona McCloud

Religion, like politics makes strange bed fellows.....

D. Eden's picture

Among other things that I am, I am a Lutheran, as well as a Republican. I come from an old family of the deep south - a family which traces it's roots back to the original thirteen colonies; a family who's members fought with the Continental Army, and have served in the US military since that time, participating in every war and police action this country has fought in. In a word, I am that strangest of species, a WASP.

Against my families wishes, I joined the US Navy - yes, as expected, and as I was raised, I served. But I broke the tradition of serving in the Army. Furthermore, I had the audacity to date outside of my race while in college. Even worse, sin of sins, I married an Italian-American woman - that most hated thing, a Catholic! But the ultimate sin, she was a Democrat!

I had the nerve to fall in love and to believe that my heart mattered more than anything else.

Unfortunately, I still love her. But I am not the man she married; I never really was. I know now, and I have come to terms with that; unfortunately, she can not.

Either way, I know what it is like to follow your heart and fly in the face of the wants of your family. No matter how much trouble it causes, no matter how much pain it may cause, you are never wrong by being with the one that you love.

Dallas

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

From A Different POV

joannebarbarella's picture

But....As we have come to expect from 'Drea, a compassionate love story that crosses not one boundary but three!

You know my thoughts

I love this little story. It speaks to who I am as a person, no matter what my faith is, but it shows the humanity in many of us. My only question is why is this fiction? It needs to be real.

Samirah M. Johnstone

We, female or male, or TS/TG

We, female or male, or TS/TG or BGL; are all alike in body and soul, simply HUMAN BEINGS.
It is only religion and politics that get in the way, and used by some to cause harm to all others.
Far, far too much has happened in the name of religion or politics throughout history, and yet even today,
we see the same two issues rear the "ugly side of their faces" within in our various societies.
Janice Lynn

Mmmm...

How you manage to cross so may 'T's' and dot so many 'I's' in a single small tale is totally amazing. But that's what makes your tales such a joy to read...and even re-read.

Now Who Could This Be...

Da Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrat

PKB_003b.jpg

Mixed Blessings come in a variety of things, shapes, sizes and

people. When a person decides to transition, it may not set right with family, friends, or co-workers. This little ditty tells us that it took a heart attack for the father to accept his "new" daughter. IMHO I think that people should be accepting, even if a person is doing something disapproving. But, in a person who transitions, there s nothing disapproving, except in the narrow minded recesses of a person who has more issues than the person who transitions.This little story is food for thought. Thank you for sharing.

"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."

Love & Hugs,

Barbara Lynn Terry

"If I have to be this girl in me, then I have the right to be."