Life with Maryam edited 2

Part 2

Part 2 As per usual, my family's favorite travel destination in the summer is Turkey, so the summer of 2023 was no different. I was especially excited to go to Turkey this time because we were only going to one city. It was the first time we didn't have to travel locally from Istanbul to Trabzon because Dad and I voted for Istanbul/Bursa, and Mom voted for Trabzon, but in the end Dad and I won the vote. Usually, we would go to Trabzon first and then make our way to Istanbul. After that, we would go on a ship that would take us to Bursa, where we would stay for a week before going back to Istanbul to return home. But this time, we only wanted to be in one place, and that place was Bursa. To get there, we had to either drive from Istanbul to Bursa or go by ship, but we decided to go by car. Fun fact: whenever we travel to Turkey, Dad always gets a rental car – he can't do without it, and neither can we. He's been to Turkey with his friends more times than with us, Mom, and I. He likes the company of his friends, I guess. One of the reasons I was so adamant about going to Bursa by car was because when I was 9 years old, something awful happened to me that could have cost me my right arm. It happened in the summer of 2015, a year I'm not very fond of. My parents and I boarded the ship from Istanbul to Bursa. Dad had driven his rental car onto the ship and parked it there. The ship was enormous and consisted of three layers – one for cars to be parked in and two for passengers to board. There was also an enclosed place at the top of the first layer where passengers could sit, order refreshments, and rest until arrival. I was 9 years old at the time – pretty bubbly and sociable. I liked making friends, being around people, and going out a lot. So, as my parents and I made our way to the passenger area, we spotted an empty table and sat down. A few minutes later, a man and his 8-year-old daughter asked if they could join us. My father let them, and he and the man got to talking. They hit it off. The man was from Saudi Arabia, particularly from Jeddah. He made some comments about how humid it was in Kuwait and how insufferable the heat was, which annoyed Mom a ton. She gets pretty defensive when anyone bashes Kuwait, I guess her level of patriotism is pretty high. But she didn't say anything. Afterwards, she complained to Dad, I'm sure. To this day, she can't forget that man. Anyways, his little daughter and I became fast friends, and at some point, we decided to leave the table and run around. We went outside on the deck, came back, joined the party, and decided to go back out on the deck. As we were making our way there, the girl opened the heavy metal door, slipped through, and before I could get through, the wind was so strong that it had full control over the door. In a split second, the heavy metal door hit my hand, closing onto it really hard. I felt like I had been teleported to another world. I could hear screams and commotion. With all the strength I had left, I tried to pull my hand off the heavy door while my Dad had already run to come to my rescue. He pushed the door off me and carried me all the way to the ER room. The scene was horrible. The worst thing of all was that I was conscious through it and knew what had just happened. I just couldn't understand how it had happened and how fast it had. My mom was in shock, terrified, and my Dad was on the verge of tears. Everyone watched in horror as the scene unfolded. There were a lot of Arabians on board who knew and spoke Turkish, so they helped with the ER team. They got me on a bed, brought ice, and placed it on my whole right arm. It was obvious that a huge purple bruise had formed, and it was aching like hell. I was a mess, crying uncontrollably. We arrived a few minutes later. We got into our rental car, my Mom sitting next to me, Dad driving. The whole time, he was sobbing, and my Mom was trying to comfort us both. I had never seen my Dad cry before the way he was. We were on our way to the nearest hospital to get my arm checked and x-rayed. When we got there, we talked to the doctors, who ran tests and confirmed that it wasn't broken but a severe bruise that would heal on its own with some cream. After that, we left and went to our hotel to check-in. Ever since that day, I have hated riding big ships. It truly was a miracle that I didn't lose my arm in the incident, and I'm pretty thankful that didn't happen. So, back to the summer of 2023. It was the first time that Mary, our maid, would leave the country since she had come to work for us from the Philippines. She was pretty excited, and so were we.