All of this is too difficult to explain. I shan’t try but last evening was the Night of the Three Reservations. The first – my hotel room in the Riyadh Hilton, the second a mobile home (more a trailer) in Tarif and the third, a humble hotel in Mecca. I am currently in the humble hotel in Mecca. Although a Saudi couple volunteered to stay with me in my ‘first Saudi home’ I found the isolation in the Tarif trailer too frightening so came down from the mountain top. It was only about a one hour ride in the SUV of my tour guide. It is impossible for anyone to imagine – the peace, quiet, the isolation of Tarif – coming down the perfectly maintained road to the bustle of Mecca. And may I remind you – I was born in Saskatchewan. Hahaha
I awoke to an email from dear Edmonton friend SOFTS. The subject line. Update on France Fake Muslim Riots.
She: It would seem that the fake muslim riots scared France away from MBS deal right back to sucking up to the zionist nazis WEF guys…today I got an email from a friend that said…
“In France meanwhile, riots and mayhem stopped after fake President Emmanuelle Macron suddenly agreed that France did not want to leave NATO after all. He also called for new “international taxation” on top of current taxes to fund “climate efforts.” This confirms the “muslim riots” were a NATO (Octagon) fascist operation.”
Me: I give up!!l I am coming to live in Saudi Arabia. All this is too tiresome. I am eighty -the end of my life. Living in Saudi Arabia ???????? is the best place to transition to Jannah. Everything works here. I am in Mecca today. Then Jeddah for two days then to Medinah. I am surrounded by loving Saudi people – warm, caring and welcoming. No poverty, no homeless, no drug addition. Peace, calm, hope, prosperity. People of the faith. I can do nothing to help the people of France nor those in Canada actually. Learning about it is useless. I am so blessed to have the choice and this opportunity! Onward to the blog.
She: Sounds like a good plan! I am happy you found a better place to live. An oasis in the desert of the world.
Me: You are SO smart. I am writing of this in my blog. You are a treasure, I am
SO happy I met you!!!! Sheikha Fatimah
So that says it all. I do have a plan which is certainly and entirely different from my panicked departure from Corte Madera, California where I faced despicable discrimination. For which I received no retribution or consolation, by the way.
Consolation is the comfort received by a person after a loss or disappointment. The synonyms are comforting: solace; sympathy, compassion, pity, commiseration, fellow feeling; relief, help, aid, support, moral support, cheer, encouragement, reassurance, fortification; soothing, easement, succor.
Certainly no one from the USA, certainly no one from the UAE, and come to think of it, no one from Canada offered consulation I do not condemn my Canadian compatriots as the pain, the loss, the disappointment was not obvious. I was so relieved to be safe at home in Edmonton. ButI have received absolutely no succor, fellow feeling, help or reassurance from either individual Muslims nor the Muslim community in Edmonton. ZILCH, NADA.
Whereas the Saudi women I have met on this blessed trip are compassionate, helpful, supportive, encouraging, soothing and reassuring.
I am truly blessed to have this opportunity. Opportunity knocks only once. This idiom means that you only get one chance to achieve what you really want to do. Here are two examples. “Since opportunity only knocks once, we should be well-prepared, seize and cherish it to avoid any lifelong regrets. 2. We should grab every opportunity as if it were the only one in our life as opportunity may only come once.”
There is a compelling message: when a person gets the chance to do something he or she wants to do. You need to be ready when opportunity knocks. I am ready, able and willing. That means I am feeling well prepared and eager to do something. The something is achievable, at hand, at one’s disposal. It is attainable, come-at-able.
This is an example of the joy and happiness foun here in Saudi Arabia. There were five of us at my ‘country home’, my first home in Saudi Arabia – the trailer in Tarif. My utterly fabulous, terrific travel guide AK (nickname will follow), a utterly fabulous woman of his acquaintance, a Muslim woman, a lecturer at a Saudi University, educated in the US and a couple met at the National Museum. The wonderful young wife and I totally connected, we exchanged hats, we have been in touch and they spontaneously joined us. IML (Incredible Muslim Lecturer) brought board games with her – the three woman were playing Snakes and Ladders (as that was the only board game I knew how to play). I would give a minute-by-minute play to the guys. I was winning. I love winning because I used to be a lawyer. Clouds accumulated to my delight as they remind me of Edmonton where I am high in the sky in my sixteenth floor apartment. I looked up and saw a rainbow. Could not believe it!!! Hurriedly took a photo and a reel, as did AK.
Minutes later, from the valley below, came a call to prayer. It was riveting. I hurriedly searched for my phone, was able to catch a few moments on a reel which shall be posted on Instagram.
The song Whether Thou Goest I Will Go comes to mind. It is a ‘romantic song’ often played at Western weddings, supposedly about ‘unconditional romantic love.” But that is not the true story. The true story is found in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth 1:16-17. It is about long-term commitment and faithfulness, but not between a man and a woman. It is part of a longer promise of fidelity, spoken by Ruth to Naomi, her mother in law.The longer text reads: “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”
I am not speaking those beautiful words of commitment to any one person but to Saudi Arabia. “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God (Allah (SWT) my God (SWT). Where thou Diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord (Allah SWT) do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”
When I amounted that I was going to Saudi Arabia on Instagram, someone wrote something like Watch Out Saudi Arabia. I responded:
Me: I was there in December. The country not only survived but thrived.
Photos are pre rainbow (the rainbow one was a reel) and photos of me and sensational Saudi women.
But little did the country know what was coming next. Hahaha
