--Debi Cates
Amer Kurdi, Ali Zabara, Sarmad Al-Wadi, Tewfik Al Far
"Janni" in Beit Meri, July 9, 1999
Ali Zabara,Thamer Arab, Debi Cates, Sinan Noori (Urfali),
Sarmad Al-Wadi, Tewfik Al Far, Yousef Arab, and Ahmed Arab
Sinan Noori (Urfali), Thamer Arab, Debi Cates, Sarmad Al-Wadi
Tewfik Al Far, Sarmad Al-Wadi, Glory Taweel and son Buddy
Yousef and Ahmed Arab
Myrna Bardawil-Kurdi and Amer Kurdi
Sinan Noori (Urfali), Thamer Arab, Tewfik Al Far
Nancy Nagem-Aswad and David Aswad
Ali Zabara
Ahmed Arab, Yousef Arab, Glory Taweel
Yousef Arab, Debi Cates, Sammy Nagem
Debi Cates & fabulous bellydancer
(the bellydancer is on the right in case you were unsure)
Thamer Arab and Jayne Kenney
Nancy Nagem-Aswad and brother Sammy Nagem
Linda Nagem-Sawaya, and brother, Sammy Nagem
Sarmad Al-Wadi and Tewfik Al Far
Ali Zabara, Amer Kurdi, Sarmad Al-Wadi, Ahmed Arab
Tewfik Al Far, Yousef Arab, Thamer Arab
What will you leave us this time?
It's almost a year since the reunion in 1999. Since then, the memories have distilled and gotten sweeter still. Little vignettes are what stick with me, those moments that are small, precious, and complete. These are some of those moments, as they come to me...
One day Linda and I were driving in Brummana. Walking down the street is a figure we recognize, Jayne Kenney. We pull over and tell her to jump in, we can give her a ride. She smiles, "No, I'm going nowhere special, just seeing if my feet still know their way around."
Malek told me about inviting Mrs. Iskandar Aswad (Mrs. Scand's) and family to his home for dinner a while back. He showed her the web page, the one with all the memories everyone wrote, Ya Scandar. Malek and she read the stories together. She loved it so much it made her weep. Malek printed the pages, put it in a binder for her to take home.
When we decided to go over to Scand's that first night, we walked in twos and threes from the Fox to Jazz Corner surrounded by one of those dark, cool summer nights Brummana is famous for. It was late, and the village was winding down (we were wound up!). There we all were, together again, walking a path well-known to us. I had the instant recognition then: the reunion was everything I dreamt it could be.
Meeting the old scholars Nuhad Misk (BHS 60s) and Naji Chaktoura (BHS 90s) was on my list of things to do while there. Nuhad answers the BHS OSA mail (among a million other things) and Naji is the webmaster of the fine OSA site. Over the past couple of years I had email exchanges with them both, and they always extended a very gracious helping hand that reached even through pixels and cyberspace. Meeting them -- both so warm -- was like meeting old friends. It's the song, you know? "As I was traveling around the world..."
I have to add an apology to Nuhad who lives within ear-shot distance from Scand's. Nuhad wonders if we ever sleep. She calls us "that wild 70s bunch." I think she means it lovingly.
One afternoon during the reunion, I was taking a cigarette break on the steps in front of the Meeting House, talking to Linda. Lo and behold, I see Mr. Kamel coming! Before I realize I'm a grown up now, I quickly stomp out my cigarette. Linda introduces me, "Mr. Kamel, this is Debi Cates from the 70s, remember her?" And he hugs me. Hugs me! That is a miracle if you ask me.
At Jazz Corner, that first night, there was this moment when everyone was singing loud (I mean loud!) "Age of Aquarius." I thought then, even with an old song like that playing, going back to BHS for the reunion wasn't like going back in time for me. It was very much being in THIS moment. I was full of joy -- the kind that you can't understand until you are 40 and are with your long-lost friends again after 25 years.
At Janni, "Paradise," Sinan took me by the hand and we went exploring that fabulous place. There were nooks and crannies galore. We winded this way and that, and even found and traversed along a suspended rope bridge. Later I tried my first argheely (do you inhale or not? the debate continues) -- felt just like I stepped into the pages of Arabian Nights!
Shirley, Tewfik and I are talking one evening, and it hits me like a ton of bricks, "My God, her voice...I remember her voice so well!" I tell her that and we soon figure it out: she was director of the house play I was in. It was a hoot -- that sensation of suddenly remembering someone you didn't think you knew.
I can't explain this phenomenon, but Lebanon has a fragrance at night. I had forgotten that, until walking to the Street Party. I could have had my eyes closed and just by scent still knew where I was: I was in Lebanon. That was the same night I found the old Passion Flower vine still growing on someone's fence between Linda's old apartment and the school. A vine at least 25 years old now. I plucked a blossom just like I used to. (And never been caught.)
Riding shotgun with Linda driving down in Beirut, she identified the road we were on as being a one-way. I was a tad surprised, considering there was traffic coming the other direction. She explained with a chuckle, "But see, they have their lights on, so it's ok." She also was courteous enough to stop at the stop lights. Ours was the only vehicle doing such as I recall. I won't tell you the words Linda used as she drove, they are her trade secrets for getting around successfully there.
One morning at the school, before the activities got started, Sarmad and I walked around the grounds together. We had our faces pressed against classroom windows, peeking in. For some reason we were talking quietly, almost whispering. Then we laughed at ourselves for being so serious. We weren't that quiet when we sat at those desks!
The BHS OSA reunion dinner was held at the Al Bustan Hotel near the swimming pool. Sammy Nagem and I were seated next to each other. Sammy used to be a life guard at the Al Bustan the first summer I arrived in Lebanon. A bunch of us would go there while he was on duty, swim, joke, splash, and play Spades (or was it Hearts). It was almost as if time jumped from 1974 to 1999 in one pleasant blink...especially if you squinted when you looked around at the fine wrinkles and spots of grey hair.
During the reunion, they sell things like T-shirts, posters, photos, and other memorabilia at booths around the school. I was walking around looking for things to buy for rememberances when I saw a sweaty Eddie Eshoo; his house had just won their sports event! (Was it basketball?). Anyway, I could see from the look on his face, it was still a thrill to win a victory for Rizkallah!
Remember Joe Ashkar? Joe had Top Choice back in the 70s, one of my personal favorite hot spots. I still have a cassette recording of Rod Stewart with "Top Choice" stamped on it -- after all these years! Well, Joe is one of those people that makes you wonder, "Did he live the same 25 long years I did?" And Saad Saad, I recognized him instantly too. And Mr. Kamel. Must be the water over there, huh?
The last day, I slipped an arm around Tewfik while we smiled, looking at our friends who were talking and laughing. I asked knowingly, "Amazing, huh?" He replied, "Debi, they should bottle this and sell it as medicine."
Due to a whole series of mix ups, I didn't have my ticket back home when it was time to go. (Honestly, I didn't lose it on purpose). So, I got an extra day in Lebanon while we figured it out. That night -- that extra night -- I brushed Linda's daughter Karina's long hair for her. We talked about music and what songs she liked. I'll always be grateful to the clerk who lost my ticket in Copenhagen.
Driving down to Beirut for my return home, you'll never guess what song played on the radio.."Oh Very Young" by Cat Stevens! Needless to say, I began bawling my eyes out. Isn't life beautiful?
I have a friend who calls certain things in life, "Heaven Pictures." She describes them this way: "Heaven pictures are pictures that you take with your mind. When you get to heaven, they will be waiting for you, developed." I have a thousand Heaven Pictures of the reunion waiting for me.
And though you want to last forever
You know you never will
(You know you never will)
And the goodbye makes the journey
harder still
Sarmad Al-Wadi and Shirley Cottam
Malek Mrowa and daughter
Shirley Cottam, Tewfik Al Far, Debi Cates
Hilary Auckland-Baz and Sarmad Al-Wadi
Yousef Arab, Hiam Nasser and Ahmed Arab