Remember last year before I moved to Illinois I started writing tribute posts to people, places and things I loved in Michigan?  One of them was about Meijer, the grocery store.  Well today, I got to reunite with my long lost love.

I had to go to a store in Aurora to return something, and on the way back I was planning on hitting up a grocery store to buy supplies for dinner, which I was planning to make later that day (chicken pot pie, another post, another day).  Anyway, there I was, driving down IL-59, looking out for Aurora Ave to make a left turn, when there it was.  On the horizon like a beautiful tree with red apples.  Only the apples were letters, and it spelled out… (more…)

Just a quick and interesting thought I had today.  I was in the teacher’s lounge and I heard some teachers discussing whether or not they’d allow their daughters to wear hijab when they grew up.  Both of these teachers didn’t wear hijab, and they both said very confidently that they would never stop anyone from wearing hijab.

Anyone, huh?  What about themselves?  When someone doesn’t wear hijab, who is really stopping them?  A parent?  A friend?  A spouse?  Or the person themself?  Afterall, when a girl puts on a hijab, in my opinion, the number one thing she is fighting is not culture, nor pressure, but her own desire to be admired or adored.

So really, if you’re not wearing it, and you’d never stop anyone else from wearing it, why stop yourself?

As promised, the rest of my Spring break… for those of you who want to know how I spend my time when I have nothing to do.

Wednesday morning Saqib dropped me off at the Metra station in downtown Lisle and I took a train to Union Station downtown to get on another Amtrak train to Ann Arbor.  I was a little nervous about using “so many” trains to get to my destination, because public transportation makes me nervous.  The schedules, tracks, fees, and employees are generally confusing or not very helpful.  But alhumdu’lillah, I made to Ann Arbor in one piece, to be picked up by my bhabi.

Wow, what a driver.  Hunno really knows how to make good time.  She picked me up right when I stepped off the train, and we were off to the grocery store before I knew it.  We had to pick up a few items for ammi who was waiting for me back at home.  Hunno, who wanted to make good time, managed to pick me up, stop at the store and get me home all within one hour.  Impressive, wouldn’t you say?

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