Mommy Diaries: Jumping Ship

When I first moved here in 1999 all I wanted was to leave. Literally. I wanted to take the first flight out of this noisy polluted city. It was hot, crowded, and I didn’t have a single familiar face to turn to. I begrudgingly went to school, hoping that the year would fly by fast enough that I wouldn’t have to kill myself.  Little did I know that this would become the city I wanted to start a family in. The city I wanted to spend the rest of my life in. This is the city where I would meet the love of my life.

Here we are though, 13 years later and it’s a whole new city.   It’s a little more crowded, definitely hotter, and lets just say the smog doesn’t seem like its going anywhere. Now I’ve never been one to jump ship, but I have other people who are depending on me now. And I need to look out for their best interest and put their needs before my own.

We’ve all heard someone we know say how they’re going to pack up their life and move as far away from Tahrir as possible. Some of us even know people who actually did it. We have friends who are even trying to apply for political asylum. 

Now, my question is, is it really that bad?

Do you think Cairo is going down the drain? Perhaps this is all just the new “in” way of thinking? Everyone is talking about giving their families better lives, but can you do that far away from family and friends? I’m sure there are people who can argue in either direction but what do you think? If you had kids, would you pack them up, leave everything behind to start a new life?