Twenty two Years Post Refugee

My husband Mishal far left, Dusty Rhodes, Me  and Dusty's wife Pamela

Arriving in the States was like coming home. It's funny..every country has a certain smell and the minute I walked into a mall in America, I would take a deep breathe and close my eyes. There was a distinctive smell about it; a fresh smell of soap and scented candles that I always loved and I missed it.

My daughter JoJo (Jawaher) somehow knew that there was something special about America, was it her American genes that made her stomp her feet and say "I want to live here, I don't want to go home!" or was it the amazing colors of America? Who knew? How is it that when I showed her the American flag, she fell in love with it and wouldn't let it go...stood in the middle of the shop waving it and singing "I love America...I love America" her own song that she made up that rhymes with "nanee nanee boo boo". Was she trying to tease someone here? Who knew?!

Needless to say, the experience was amazing and it was great to meet up with all the family and friends there. What completely surprised me was one Marine that I had met in Bahrain twenty two years ago as a refugee.

Dusty Rhodes was a twenty year old Marine that was deployed to Bahrain during the invasion of Kuwait as part of Desert Storm. His camp was stationed in Awali, Bahrain and it was there that I and my sisters met Dusty and his friends. They missed home and we missed home. They wanted this whole thing to be over with so they can go home and we wanted this whole thing to be over so we could go home. Having this in common created a bond and somehow made the waiting period easier on all of us.

When Kuwait was finally liberated, we said our goodbyes and everybody went on with his old life except Dusty who suffered from the Gulf War Syndrome and checked himself into a Veteran hospital. It took a long time for him to get better but he did. And how did I know that? He drove five hours from New York with his wife to see me and the family while we were there. He had found me on Facebook and knew I will be coming to the States and he wanted to meet up after twenty two years!

It was a historical moment when he stepped out of his car carrying a bag full of pictures and newspaper clipping of his days in Bahrain. It was wonderful to introduce him to my husband and kids and share with them a little history of when I was a refugee. When I told Dusty that I was hoping to promote my book, he jumped and said "Send it to Jay Leno! I met him when he came out to visit us when I was there and I'm sure he'd love to help." I giggled and thanked him for his input. I'd already sent it to Jay Leno.

You see, that's the great thing about America, nobody laughs at your big, crazy dreams. Too many nobodies became somebodies so why not you. True Hollywood Stories can give you enough examples of that and it aint called the land of opportunity for nothing!

So maybe I won't hear from Jay Leno or maybe I will. Who knows! What I do know is that after Dusty's visit I felt like I had lived my own hollywood movie regardless if it was ever watched by the public or ever became a blockbuster. The Refugee and The Marine. Tell me that won't make an excellent title for a movie!