During the flight home I was a little anxious about going back to the US. I always feel a bit of a shock when we return home, even after just a month or two away, but after six months I was not sure how I’d feel. I had not quite come to miss cold water directly from the tap or warm consistent showers or good roads. Of course the reason for our return was the exciting event of our cousin Narges’s wedding where we would have a chance to celebrate with the much of Nima’s extended family, so we were happy to be heading back for a short detour. Arriving at JFK we seemed to ease back in quite quickly. It is always refreshing to hear to the multiple accents and feel the diversity of the US. We rented a car and drove (I should say that Nima drove most of the way while I slept- recurring theme you may have noticed) along the east coast to Baltimore to visit Nima’s brother Kia. It was our first chance to visit him since he moved to Baltimore and we had a great time catching up and meeting his friends. Baltimore was sunny and particularly beautiful while we were there. We only had a couple of days but Kia gave us a good tour of the city and some of his favorite haunts.
Our drive to Charlotte was fun. We arrived in the evening with just enough time to check in to the hotel and then head to the airport to pick up mom and Nima’s grandparents. Over the next 24 hours more family trickled in from everywhere in North America and from Iran. The weekend was lovely. Narges and John celebrated with a beautiful ceremony in nearby botanical gardens. They looked wonderful. On the night of the reception they had a live bluegrass band with a wonderful female singer so we learned to dance to those rhythms. The events were filled with a lot of laughter. At pre- and post-wedding celebrations we had time to really catch up with them and the rest of the family. This was a great chance to talk to people that I have met over the years but don’t get the opportunity to see very often. I also had the chance to meet some other family members that I have heard so much about. We were happy to be there. The time passed too quickly and soon we found ourselves headed back to Baltimore and on the plane to Johannesburg South Africa.
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