It was a beautiful day. The sun was hot, the waves were calm and I was happy. I had just reunited with my family. It was during the time my husband was in Iraq. He was there almost a year at the time, when he flew in from Iraq, we flew in from the state side and met up in Turkey. Even though we had limited time, I didn’t care my family was finally together.
My extended family from all over the country came to visit us. At all times our house had minimum of 30 guests. People would come and stay a few days as they leave other family members would show up, all to visit us. I can tell you right now, wonder and I barely had time to ourselves. It was still great to be surrounded by all of my family and long time friends.
My husband still dreams of the day we go back there to visit. From the cheap but delicious food, the night clubs that are kids friendly (yes you’ve heard me right), the open air night clubs that are open till the sun rises, the interesting people, to the overwhelming hospitality of an entire country and of course the extremely curious (and somewhat noisy) people who are eager to talk to black people (which annoyed me and somehow didn’t bother my husband one bit), Turkey is a beautiful country inside and out.
This memory resonate deep in my bones. I think it was the last time my family was truly happy. At the time I was already symptomatic. We just haven’t met the realities of Lyme word yet. All my symptoms seemed spread out and unrelated. Of course the doctors were busy dismissing my complaints and making me feel bad about myself. Although I dealt with fatigue a lot I was not bed bound or wheelchair bound – at least not yet.
This is the last good memory I remember before our lives turned upside down. Fast forward 7 years we have been through burning flames. Our family is like a car that has been crash tested. We have been through every tough condition a family can go through.
Fast forward to today life is not any easier, however we adapted to our existing conditions and accepted them as our constant.
We have tumbled through the past 7 years. Life beat us to submission. Throughout we saw who our true friends were and the rest naturally shed away. At some point we stop living and just started existing. Today it will all change. We decided to take a step forward towards catching that happiness again. No more just existing and filling an empty space. It is time to start living again.
Kuşadası.Türkiye.2011