Peregrinations

Zahide

Zahide (zah-hee-day) is the wife of my sister's "person of all trades" for her houses in Doganbey, Turkey. When Zahide's daughter was struggling with an English lesson at my sister's kitchen table - write an original sentence and translate it into English - I suggested "My mother has beautiful blue eyes."

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Oh, Mother of God!

I read my mother's copy of Gone With the Wind when I was about 13 and ever after wanted red hair and green eyes. I also wanted to be Catholic (we were fairly virtuous Lutherans), and went about exclaiming, "Oh, Mother of God!," as Scarlett was wont to do, for several weeks afterwards. If I have any religious thoughts concerning this election season, it might be, "Oh, Mother of God! What next?" And then, if fairy tales were really true, this scene over the archway of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston might actually take place. Read more about Oh, Mother of God!