Ha ha. Always a pleasure to hear your stories Yahia. Especially proud uncle ones ;-) I feel that way about my little cousin sometimes, except he's 21 this year and not so little anymore. But i remeber teaching him how to play poker for pennies at my Grans at Christmas when he was 8 years old. It's a strange thing to get to know loved ones at different stages in their lives, almost like making many friends in one person. I guess this is one of the joys of growing old-er.

Wow, that's a big family you have. I'm at the opposite end of the scale with only me and my mother in the UK and my uncle, aunt and cousin in the USA. Grandparents sadly passed recently, so we are a small clan.

I was encouraged to read Naomi Shihab Nye in University and enjoyed her poems very much. The one that springs to mind is 'Jerusalem'. I have been involved in the Palestine movement in a small way in Liverpool and my mum is much more seriously involved, I don't want to get into politics lol, but that is on of the reasons why that poem sticks in my memory.

Just googled her work and found this reading. I'm sure your familiar with it. Really nice reading and story.