and per se and ...

Dreams come true all the time. I spent three weeks with the official job title "Arts & Crafts Teacher." Ampersand included. My mission was to develop crafts suitable for four to five-year olds with Islamic themes using recyclable household materials. "Islamic themes" was loosely interpreted, as we did end up doing several bug projects. But Allah created bugs. And that's what we call Islamic pre-school art. The possibilities are endless.

Growing up, I too created a portfolio of art with Islamic themes, my best work emerging at the age of nine- a painting of Hell. I entered it into a school-wide contest challenging students to reflect on the theme "Anything Can Happen." When I asked my nephew if his drawing of big black scribbles on black paper was Jahannam, he said "Of course not, it's a tsunami- see the little guy?"
I did see the little guy, flying through the air.
"He's not a bad guy. He's a good guy."
Alhamdullilah, double-win for Team Make Sure the Kids Don't Take After Khala. They don't draw pictures of Hell for fun, plus they understand that even good guys can get caught in a tsunami.

I hope to make this Ramadan more than just a basic fight for survival. We pray Taraweh (Ramadan night prayer) on the roof in the breeze. We can see the whole city from up there although of course no one is looking. But I know it's there and sneak peeks as we go through the Salah, two by two up to 20. A bunch of the kids that were in the crafts program come to the prayer and squeeze their little bodies into the back row. I don't watch to see if they make it through all 20 but when I was their age I definitely used to try, and would make a list in my head of all the things I could think about while I was praying that would keep me from falling asleep standing. I'm not sure what these guys think about except for when they see me standing next to them and get a look of wonder on their face and can't stop staring to see if it's really me. She does things other than crafts? What?

The best part, by far, of seeing kids at Tarweh is during the last raka of Witr when we delay bowing down and instead remain standing to recite the dua qunoot before going into ruku. Kids tend to forget this. It's late, they're tired. So down they go, waiting for the Imam to say Allahuakbar and it just doesn't come. And so they wait, and wait, and then eventually a few little heads start to peek around and try to figure out what's going on. But most of them don't even notice and just maintain great patience and understanding that everything is going great.

And that's what I miss. But aside from not being a child anymore, things actually are going great because Allah has given me a job where I have to at least partially think and act like one. But there's a time and place for it, and this month is about moving forward and not backward. And apparently, according to the schedule, for me to learn how to macrame. And then to learn how to teach kids how to macrame.

Ramadan Kareem.
As the guy who put together the youtube Tafsir lectures I listen to would say: "Plz Keep me in UR duazz and PRAY I get all Az & A+z on my examzz."