If you Build it...

The theme to this chapter of our lives in the first year of Dubai is newness.  We live in a new villa and work in a new building on a new campus.  This campus is a great house slowly becoming a home.

This seems to mirror this city that is so new it resembles nothing that I can remember from my visit 13 years ago. In those 13 years, I have lived 4 new chapters.  I have been a suburban homeowner, lived in three states, fathered two daughters and lived through four Scandinavian winters.  All the while, the Ponzi scheme that is Dubai was multiplying.

Dubai rises from the sand into the sky blue.

The constant sun gleams
off the tops
of the buildings,
reflecting
blinding
golden rays
that shatter
the sky and
shadow the sand.




Mosques mingle in the city,
calling to one another
in a timeless minaret
singalong.

Sky scraping needle points jut higher,
mixed with spiraled rotundas,
meshed with twin metal monsters,
cemented dreams with windows
and modern pyramids-
all
sit
along
the
sand.

The creek winds through old town,
an asp dividing the city's port.
The snaking water silently slithers-
a reminder of the boats and goods
flowing into and out of the middle east.

Dubai's port, the Grand Central Station of commerce
for the Gulf,
trapped in the heat between dozens of cultures.

If you build it,
the cranes will come.

The workers will arrive.

The sand will succumb.


The Palm will sprout from water.


Do Buy.





If you build it,
Dubai will rise
from the sand-

reaching towards the heavens.

Nesting

I was recently visited by a friend from the past, Richie the Hat.  He and I had not seen each other in almost nine full years.  Yet through the magic of digital tech, we had stayed in touch.

It was fun hanging with him, his awesome wife and the kids.  Our reunion made me realize that home was in fact where the heart was.  If by heart, you meant the core, the essence, the center of where you are at.

All of the people who are at the core are the people who jumped to the forefront, climbed right up into the co-pilot's seat and shared a chapter of the ride.  Whenever you share an experience with other people that 'get' you, your bond is linked to the core.  As nomads, J and I are lucky to have tight friends from every stop along the way.  Sometimes, the life arc of someone at your core spins them back into contact.

Both Rich and I are back teaching in the middle east.  The reconnect is done.  For the years in between, Skype and Facebook keep you linked to your core.  Home is my status update?

Rich and I had our oldests born in Saudi at the same hospital.

So home is where the shared moment is?  Yes, especially if the moment bonds you with others in a turning point of your life.

Who gets the paperwork of a "Certificate of Birth Abroad" document in 2000 in Saudi Arabia better than Rich and I?  "Do you have translation, my friend?"

Dubai is my residence and we keep making our Villa #23 more of a home.  Day by day, it rolls into our family's hearts as the core of life in Dubai.

Home is where I planted a garden.

Home is where I watch the sunrise.

Where I can unmask.

It is the background in photos.

Hey Guero, home is where I park the Pajero.

Home is where I milk the camel.

It is the place we pulled into cheering, happy to be home, after one night of camping on the other side of the United Arab Emirates.

Home is where I built the desk I am typing this self-indulgent blog from.

Villa 23 is for me.  Home is where we reside with the ones we love.  Our core.

Mr. William Joel once said, "I need you in my house cause you're my home."

Home is where the fart is?

Rome piss bear the start fizz?

Chrome bliss where the show biz?

Home is where the heart is.

Kite Beach

"In summer I can taste the salt in the sea

There's a kite blowing out of control on a breeze,

The Kite surfers say: "Who's to say where the wind will take you,

Who's to say what it is will break you?

I don't know where the wind will blow."

"I know that this is not goodbye!"

Kite Beach in Jumeria: kites, mosques and the Burj Khalifa in the distance.

Rosie and the crew worked for a long time building a castle.

Bella basked on the beach with the Burj Al-Arab behind her.

 "The last of the rock stars"

"When hip hop drove the big cars"

Most of Kite Beach seemed to come home with us so we had a little fun in the sun.