Jule's Hikoi

I had a heart stopping moment on Friday, one of those moments that something slowly dawns on you and the panic sets in. The night before I had played with my blog trying to change my location and add Al Ain weather. The blog didn't seem to load properly. No worries I thought, I hoped, as I drifted off to sleep.

In the morning when I checked, my blog was gone. After some searching and technical help I recovered it by adding a new entry, the one about technical difficulties. After that I saved it just in case it happened again.

The feeling of panic and loss was overwhelming and made me realise how important this outlet is for me. I started my blog as a means of communication to share my travels and photos with my family and friends and while it serves that purpose, it's also an outlet for me to download my thoughts and observations.

My mind is constantly working, those who know me well will smile here. I'm very observant and notice what goes on around me, I like to share that. Often I've held back in capturing some of life's special moments here because, well I suppose I feel like what I say isn't nearly as interesting as what others have to say. It's the small stuff, the people stuff, the emotional stuff.

When I'm out and about with others, I people watch and give them a running commentary on what I observe. Tonight at the mall I saw an Omar Sharif look alike chatting to someone, smiling; a young dad lovingly holding his son and gazing at him in wonderment. I remember that feeling very well. He glanced up and saw me smiling and smiled back, proudly.

I saw a group of young women dressed in abyia wandering around looking at the clothes and shoes and handbags as young women of most cultures do. I saw a young boy in a yellow thobe with a bag of candyfloss walking alongside his father and mother. He looked over at me and I smiled, he smiled back and showed me his bag.

I saw a lovely silk kilim and was tempted to buy after the saleman's best efforts. I talked to people from many parts of the world, people buying and selling. I shared a meal with two friends, one from Tunisia, in a Chinese retaurant in the Middle East surrounded by laughing families of many different nationalities.

Mostly tonight I saw people happy to be with each other, chatting and smiling and sharing their time. People relaxed about their lives. People who may not have a lot but make the most of what they have. I think we could learn a lot from that.