A Remembrance...

Lately I've been posting a lot of anti-Valentine’s statuses on Facebook and BBM: “Valentine's Day is cancelled, here's the mathematical proof: 14-02-12 = 0”, “Some call it Valentine's Day ... I call it Tuesday”, and to all my friends who are committed: "Happy Valentine's Day" ... and to all my friends who are single, "Happy Independence Day". And though I couldn't help but chuckle at the posts, there’s a little part of me that thinks there’s something sweet about this holiday…

Mich called me and A last night, asking if we’d want to go to Beirut with him today. Since we didn't have any prior plans, we were on the way there by 10 AM this morning. Our first and foremost stop was Hariri’s memorial site…

It wasn't too crowded yet there were a good amount of people there. As soon as I stepped in, I had a flashback… It’s been 7 years since the assassination. 7 years since I was sitting in our AUB dorm room with Nadine, when a deafening explosion shook us both. We looked up at the sky to see dark black smoke from the distance, and so we ran out of our rooms, trying to find out what had happened. The TV in the common room was already turned on with live footage, and more than half the residents were gathered around it. Moments later, we somberly learned that Hariri’s life had been claimed. And that all hell had broken loose…

I can’t believe that it’s already been 7 years. A lot has changed, yet in a way, nothing has changed at all. But if I could sum up the entire present day, it would be in this picture I took, this heart shaped arrangement of roses that his wife had placed on his grave this morning:

I took these two pictures at the memorial as well before we each said a prayer and went back to spend the rest of our work-free day in Beirut… HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY <3