October 21st, late night solitude

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Sometimes I stay awake after everyone has gone to sleep so that I can reflect on my day, or even life in general, in peace. That is what I am doing right now.

I’ve been in Agadir for four days now and I’m feeling pretty settled in. I really like this city.

Aziz had to leave today and that just sucks. He is such an enjoyable person to travel with. Like Hassan, he has spent the majority of his life living outside of his native country; and so he has a very wide perspective of the world. He gets me and my Caucasian ways. I get to be where I am the most comfortable with Aziz and Hassan: one of the boys. They don’t think it’s weird that I prefer to hang around with men in coffee shops, rather than hang out at home with the girls. In Essaouira I spotted a huge pair of gonads on one of the local cats. When I pointed them out to Aziz, he laughed hysterically with me. You see? He just gets it. It’s been six years since us three have traveled together; and it was way too short this time.

Hassan and I are staying with his youngest brother Yassine, and his wife Zineb, who have a son of four years and a baby only a few weeks away from due. I’m nuts about Yassine and Zineb too. They are educated and progressive Moroccans with kind and generous hearts. This is the first time I have met their son because he was born two years after my last visit. At only four years old, he is already learning the Arabic alphabet - successfully I might add - and is excelling in French. He is a very bright boy, a sweet boy, a bad boy, a good boy, a cheeky boy, a polite boy and a boy chalked full of boyish energy. He has big, beautiful Arabic eyes like his mother, with long, curled, black eyelashes that make it impossible to be mad at him; and boy does he ever love superheroes. He is also about the luckiest boy I have ever met, having parents like Yassine and Zineb. Both are patient, wise, hardworking and on a sure path to success. Both are doctors and highly intelligent intellectuals. Yassine is a neurologist, specializing in multiple sclerosis. As I observe the way they gently guide their young son throughout each day, I am moved. I truly admire these people.

So, we will see what the next week brings. Yassine has taken the next four days off to show us around the south, outside of Agadir. Sahara, Sahara, Sahara! I can’t wait to meet you!

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