Book of D: Hassan is Back Home

Hassan has finished the spring semester at university. He has traveled back home to his loving family in the Bakhtiari province near Lordegan City. His family was so happy to see him. 

Hassan was anxious to return home so he could help his family finish building a home that will house his older brother, his wife, and toddler son. Hassan will eventually build a home on the Hosseinpour homestead one day whenever he gets married. But, he is in no hurry. Hassan wants to finish his collegiate career and become an instructor first before settling down with a wife and starting a family. 

Which reminds me of conversations Hassan and I have had, and further research I have done, regarding Iranian nomadic marriage. For instance, part of the Luri (nomadic) culture, deems that parents may try to arrange marriages, but it's a custom that has died out throughout the centuries. Then there's consanguineous marriage, which is a type of endogamy, and is still practiced and encouraged. However, this tradition has also seen a decline mostly related (pardon the pun) to the greater awareness about recessive genetic disorders that plague endogamy (in-marriage) relationships. The reason for the decline points to education: the more educated the nomad, the lesser his or her chances are of ending up marrying a family member because of educated awareness toward mental and physical disabilities that intra-marriage can cause a newborn.

Hassan's family has been against consanguineous marriage for a couple of generations, which bodes well for my friend. 

To further explain, without condoning consanguineous marriage, it started out of necessity for financial security, and reproduction; moreover, to strengthen family bonds within the nomads. Consanguineous marriage helped ensure that money and security remained within one family and that a family's bloodline continued. In a caste system which basically ridiculed and belittled nomads,  it made it difficult for nomads to marry outside their own tribe or clan because they were deemed unfit by society. Therefore, marrying a cousin or second cousin became the norm, per se.

I'm glad my friend Hassan never has to worry about the nefarious constraints of consanguineous marriage.

Book of D: I Choose to Make Chicken Salad

I woke up at 4:30 am. We are staying with our uncle in Lubbock for the weekend. It was a much-needed excursion for me, after the mood I awoke to yesterday morning. I am feeling so much better this morning. My mood is positive, my mind is clear, and my outlook is good. I even had a dream last night that I returned to work at the university. Heck, if the opportunity arose to work there again, I might just take it; however, it would have to be with a different division.

Anyway, as my mood improved yesterday, my attitude followed. I was rather stoic and quiet for pretty much the entire morning yesterday.

As my spouse asked me questions, my answers were mostly monosyllabic: yes, no, or I don't know. I really hate being that way. My demeanor was equivalent to how it used to be before I figured out, or rather when my doctors figured out, that I had mental health issues (i.e. GAD and MDD). I used to be such a rut-maker (not to be confused with a muckraker), which basically means that I lived in a rut and often wanted everyone around me to live in a rut, too. For that, I am sincerely and truly apologetic – to myself and anyone else I burdened with the actions.

So, today is a new day and a new opportunity to make things positive for myself. I need to tweak my resume for one, and then take all the materials I have saved through the years, during grad school, and upload them into a study guide with online study cards (and even tangible index cards) to prep for the NCE. I don’t know what my future holds for me, but I take great solace in knowing that I am not alone in that. What I was meant to do will eventually find me. Or maybe that’s not really how things work, all serendipitous and all. But I do have to remember that things are within my circle of control as far as work goes. I have so many opportunities waiting for me. I worked long and hard to obtain all this wonderful education, so I must take that arduous labor and turn it into something positive. Like my high school cross-country coach used to say: you can either make chicken shit or chicken salad.