Surrounded by cups of cold tea, I sat in a mess of papers. It was almost midnight, and I was getting nowhere on my personal statement. Staring at the crumpled pieces of paper in my trash bin, I swallowed down tears of frustration. I was so tempted to go collapse on my bed, but I was determined to accomplish one of the several things I had to do by the next day. After staring at my laptop for what must have been half an hour, I decided I needed to reenergize by making myself more tea. As I ran down the several flights of stairs, I tripped over the many Persian carpets my father collected, and began to curse my luck. Before making a turn to the kitchen, I noticed a light was on in the majlis and I went to shut it off. As I approached the majlis, the familiar aroma of incense washed over me making me forget all my troubles instantaneously. The ever so comforting scent lured me into the majlis to find my grandmother who was visiting from Saudi Arabia knitting Palestinian designs on cushions.
The effects of the incense wore off as I heard my grandmother ask the question that always seemed to infuriate me, “So tell me habeebti, did you finish your work?’. My grandmother’s painful reminder triggered suppressed tears leaving me disgusted with my childlike behavior as I tasted the saltiness of the combination of my tears and eye make up.
Samar Al Ansari
Grade 12
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