Category: Introduction

It’s February 14th today. I vividly remember my gifts to you on Valentines past. I remember us strolling up and down the street on our first Valentine while you timidly held my gift bag. I remember (and still have) the little notebooks we exchanged a year later and me whispering “I love you” for the first time. I remember how elaborate my gifts used to be many years ago.

My Darling Tamara, after 15 wonderful years, I thought I was out of ideas. I know we said we’re not going to do gifts this year but I think I have one more little gift to give you.

I asked myself: What can I give the woman who has stood by me through good and bad, who has loved me across continents and oceans and never lost faith in me? What do I give my best friend and confidant? The woman with whom I have built a wonderful home? Well, my little gift to you this year is this website.

Sure, it’s not fancy or famous but it’s where I’m going to go to tell stories about people finding their Damascus, about people finding new homes and building new lives. It’s where I’m going to remind the world that we are a good and loving people. It’s where I’m going to go to find and spread hope.

Hayati, I am reminded every day of how fortunate I am to have you in my life. You’ve given me a place to call home and filled it with love, warmth and laughter. I hope that by dedicating this website to you , I can give you someplace to go often to find some peace, love and hope.

For everything that you’ve done and just for being you, this website is dedicated to you.

To Tamara, with love.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

A few years ago, with the war in Syria raging on, I established this blog as a way to connect with fellow Syrians across the globe and spread the word about Syrian people, our heritage, culture and overall good nature.

Like many expatriates, I did not have the courage to visit Damascus, though I longed to do so frequently. This blog was going to be my way to reconnect with the city I love and its people. I also hoped that this blog and site would provide a sense of belonging to other Syrians who felt homesick.

Try as I may, however, I couldn’t find the perfect idea to start the blog. I had many ideas and emotions inside of me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to write on this blog. I went on with my life, I welcomed a baby daughter into the world, graduated from fellowship and moved halfway across the United States, all the while I kept circling back to these empty pages. Sad stories from Syria trickled into our lives every day through the news, social media and friends and family, but my fingers continued to hover over the keyboard, aimlessly.

The straw finally broke a few weeks ago. Although I was not directly affected by the presidential executive order on immigration, I felt, for the first time ever, a sense of loss and betrayal. I was living in a country that I loved and that I thought loved me back, a country that I proudly called home, but now I was feeling trapped, lost and homeless. While I will dedicate future posts to talk more about this subject, it was a motivation like never before to write, write and then write some more.

So sit back, dear reader, and enjoy. Please share your thoughts, comments and stories with the world those these humble pages. I hope to add pictures to the blog soon and to make it easy for people to share their own favorite pictures of anything Damascus  on this page.