New year is coming

-Persian New Year is just around the corner. I want to do the major house clean up (khooneh takani) like every year but my house keeper stood me up yesterday! Hopefully she shows up tomorrow! For Iranians, New Year without a real clean house is not a real new year!! As usual every year around this time I review my memories of the New Years back in Iran. I and my cousins used to get very excited about the New Year, new clothes and gifts that we would get. When I was grown up we used to go to Shomal (north of Iran) and we had so much fun to go to meet up places that all young girls and boys from Tehran would gather! When I think about my life back in Iran is like I think about another life time in another planet. My life has changed so much! I am a married woman with two kids and a professional job in U.S now. I am so far from a care free girl who did not have any worries rather than studying for exams and sometimes dramas with boys!! DO I want to go back to that time? Not really! Although was fun but I think I am happy with where I am and who I am now!
-I am reading a book (Shohare Ahoo khanoom) these days that is Persian story about a house wife whose husband decided to get married with a younger woman and brings the second wife to the same house!!The story happens around 1940’s (Reza Shah time). Obviously the whole story makes me so frustrated about women rights in Iran. Unfortunately men can do the same thing today in 21st century in Iran and some other countries too. Since I am reading this book I thank god a lot for being an independent woman living in United States and have a husband that I know that so far has been very faithful to me. It is so painful to see that men can be so cruel to their wives who has been always there for them and who is mother of their kids. Women in civilized societies like US take all their rights for granted and some of them do not appreciate it that much, although they are right, having proper rights is the normal thing not the other way around! Even here woman are not 100% equal with men and still there is room for women right improvements. Seeing so much injustice towards women in other parts of the world makes me so grateful for being part of this society who protects me from those kind of injustice. I can confess that since I am reading this book I am nicer to my husband(it is a secret between me and you) because I compare myself with the woman in the story and I feel so blessed! I guess we all need to read these kinds of books every once in a while to appreciate what we have more!