When Nowhere is Home, Forever and Always Between Two Worlds
Mind the exit for an unfamiliar return
Consumed by the story, he delivered striking details and exact times. It was less dialogue, and more stream of consciousness, asking and answering his own questions. “Do you remember the car; we were in the back of that old Mercedes.” Continuing, “Praise God, we could hear and feel bombs falling from the sky.” This was all completely foreign to me; listening intently, I added nothing. Finally, he realized, “You don’t remember any of it do you,” just as quickly adding, “how could you, you were just a baby.”
In mid-March 1978, Israeli forces launched an attack on South Lebanon code-named ‘Operation Litani’. As a result of the week long offensive, thousands of residents were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. A young couple, who less than six months prior welcomed their first born child, were among those fleeing.
Time, for me, is difficult to quantify. Both good and bad. Despite being born and having lived nine years there, I remember almost nothing from Lebanon. It’s only when a family member, or friend, recounts past events that I put another piece together. Until today, the picture remains largely incomplete, a puzzle with sparsely settled sections, and similar colored pieces dispersed across a table. Every now and then…
