Abdel | عبد

Sofia

I love this woman.

You don't know how much I do love my wife. Sofia and I have known each other since before our parents knew that we were in a relationship. Just thinking about her makes me go insane with joy, just for being there.

"Abdel," Sofia said, "I need to talk to you about something, habibi." I confidently went downstairs, hoping it was nothing more than being told over text from one of my Sunday School students that their parents were paying for a spot in the Myrtle Beach trip this summer (our church does a first come first serve spot system, and we have 102 of them). Turns out, I was dead wrong- Sofia uttered the words, "Emely has cancer."  "Emely who?" I asked. "Remember, habibi, when we moved to Virginia," Sofia said. "Still, who, ya Sofia habibti," I replied nervously. "Emely Castro, she was here when we moved to Virginia," Sofia answered.

Okay, this wasn't the turn that I was expecting, but Emely is a mother! My thoughts were literally racing as I called the girls to come home quick to pack their bags to head to North Carolina to visit her and her family. I remember calling Patricia first, but she told me over the phone, "Ya Baba, we know, it's just that you and ya Mama are dead late," and not to mention that Patricia was also laughing at me over the phone. I then called Pietra, who literally busted out laughing and said the same thing.

Paulina and Halawa were no different than their sisters.

Meanwhile I was panicking out of stress, I was sitting on our living room couch when Sofia joined me. She then gave me a kiss and said, "Abdel, you need to relax, habibi. By the way, I'm digging some television!"

"Ya Baba, we're home," Pietra yelled as she and her sisters came home from school. "Where's my kiss," I asked Pietra as she gave Sofia a kiss on the cheek, but choosing to skip me. "I didn't forget about you, ya Baba," Pietra said, "Mom just comes first since SHE'S the one that gave birth to me!" Paulina then came up to me and said, "How's your day been?" "Great, Paulina habibti," I replied. I then planted a kiss on her cheek and let her on her way upstairs.

Halawa came up to me and asked why I was talking about Emely Castro so randomly. "You know, Halawa," I said, "Emely may get really sick, and I was giving you the news because that meant that we need to start praying for her." Halawa replied, "But, ya Baba, habibi, we already knew this for this past month." "Ya binty, Halawa, who told you?" I asked Halawa. "Her blabbermouth daughter Montse," Halawa said, "and we weren't gonna tell you because you told us in Sunday School class that it was a sin to be a chismosa." After hearing Halawa's answer, I sent her on her way as well.

As soon as the girls left, we returned to what we were doing before they had come home from school- watch television. With absolutely no makeup on and her long and straight brown hair worn down, I saw joy in the blue eyes of my wife, who looked at me and telepathically told me that we're gonna watch "Yom min omri" on YouTube TV. We kissed each other and told each other that "I love you", because we may lose one another. Yom min omri was the same movie that my birth parents named me after, not from the characters, but Abdel Halim Hafez himself, the now late singer.