For Gratitude and Inexplicables; Midnight, 01, 01, 2001

I was glad to see Sally again at New Year's.  She's just back from a two year stretch in the Peace Corps in Jordan, where she worked in a facility for elderly women.  I asked her all about Jordan, women, henna, and a ring she was wearing.  She said the Arabic on it said "Thanks be to Allah", and asked if I could copy the ring's calligraphy onto her hand as henna. The calligraphy on the ring is old, and more elegant than readable.   I also copied it onto my hand here.  Sally was rather quiet at the New Year's party .... as if she missed the old Jordanian women, and wasn't entirely at ease with young Americans.

I hennaed my hand, and many other's hands on New Year's eve to darken by the Brushwood bonfire at midnight.  I like a good henna to celebrate a celebration.  It works for me, and I wanted to play with this design.  However, I was somewhat concerned about writing "Thanks be to Allah" on my hand in henna, as I'm not Muslim, (I'm not anything in particular) and was concerned that this be taken unkindly.  I thought, though,  that if God is God (by whatever name), and  I'm very grateful to be alive, blessed  with a husband, grown children, friends, good food and  tonight, perhaps the "thanks" will be understood . 

We had a lovely bonfire with sparklers, and I'd put on my favorite new dark green velvet shirt (I'm the woman with the sparkler, dark red skirt, dark green shirt) . As I was dancing around the fire, some sparks from the New Year's fire settled on my shirt ... left shoulder.  I was a little sad, as it was my favorite new shirt, 
and it burned the velvet. 

When I took the shirt off at bedtime, I saw the sparks had burnt in some UUU-shaped lines.  I put on my glasses, and the New Year's eve fire had written "Allah" in Arabic on my shirt. 

Perhaps that was  a hand on my shoulder saying that thankfulness and gratitude are acceptible and well recieved by a supreme being, no matter from whom 
.... if so ..... 
Happy New Year, to You, too!