Memories of My Childhood

A friend of mine posted photos from her childhood. I viewed them with envy. I wish I had pictures of my childhood. Maybe I have some but they're somewhere in Iraq. And then I started wondering if I've had a fun childhood. I've lived the first 7 years of my life in Iraq. All the memories I have of that time are very dear to me. Me and Noor (my twin sister) running to welcome baba when he came home from work and he'd drop the bags he's carrying and carry us both instead. This had to be somewhere before 1997 (as he left Iraq that year for better work opportunities and therefore be able to support us better) which means that I was 5. I remember being the girl who always fainted, broke her hair slides when she was angry and was the "evil" twin.

I remember leaving my friends and going to Jordan when I was 7. I remember writing letters to my best friend (who stayed in Iraq). I haven't heard from her in years.

When most Iraqis suffered from power cuts, we never did as the area we lived in was supplied by the same supply for nearby factories. I remember how my grandmother, may her soul rest in peace, used complain of her eyesight and still be able to recognize actors on tv. I remember when it was damp after a light pour of rain, we used to go out in the garden and find colorful ladybirds on bright green leaves. I remember sleeping in one place and waking up in another and being convinced that I sleep walked.

But I never learnt how to ride a bicycle, how to swim, how to dance ballet. I've had best friends who left me or I left them as either moved to a different country. I felt like an outsider. And that feeling stayed with me for a long time. I still remember leaving Iraq in 1999 and how we stopped in the middle of nowhere because we ran out of petrol. How my sister buried her face through it all because she didn't want to leave Iraq.

Maybe these don't qualify my childhood to be called happy but I wasn't sad when I was a kid, I didn't know any better, and going to exotic places doesn't make it a 'happy' childhood. When my older siblings talk about the wonderful playful childhood they've had as they lived in better times. But still the fact that I spent 7 years of it in Iraq brings me immense joy. I love it whether it was boring or not.