Jobs!

After two years of unemployment, my husband has finally landed a job! And it’s not something I envisioned at all but it seems perfect! My habibi will be working full-time as a rep for a furniture company in Casablanca. And the job begins this week.

Destiny played her hand after both of us had reached the end of our ropes. I had delivered yet another ultimatum to my spouse. In response, he fell ill and went home to be nursed back to health. During that miraculous week, he healed. He got physically better and spiritually stronger. He quit smoking altogether. Hash and cigarettes are a thing of the past. He began praying five times a day. And knowing I wouldn’t turn down the request of his good friend, Adil, they both approached me one day and asked for a 400 dirham advance to go to Casablanca to work on what I understood to be a construction job. As it turned out, that job was actually building a faux waterfall in a furniture showroom. The owners saw something in Hassan that sparked their interest and before the week was over, he was offered a job to represent their line of furnishings. He will be provided with an allowance for his housing and his car and will be paid on a commission basis. Hassan is a superb salesman and this is a great opportunity for him!

Hassan returned from Casablanca bearing small gifts and enough money to pay for his car insurance (the car had been sitting in the parking lot for three weeks). My loan was repaid and the women in Hassan’s family switched into high gear to clean and press suitable clothes for his work. Suits, slacks, shirts and shoes were piled high in the salon yesterday and we all carefully stacked his work clothes into suitcases for the return trip to Casablanca. None of his clothing remains in our house on Derb Ben Salem for his home will be Casablanca for the foreseeable future. His energy is remarkable and I feel like I am seeing the real Hassan for the first time. It was a joy to have him around this weekend.

Sunday night, as I waved goodbye as he drove away, I felt really hopeful about the whole situation. I really don’t mind living on my own for the majority of my time. I am rather used to it.

During the past three weeks things have picked up for me, too. I have two marketing projects and am now teaching dance at Café Clock every Monday evening. I still enjoy my English teaching job and have just begun another major project on the house. That project is being funded by the money I’ve collected from overnight guests. In the end, I hope to have one more salon ready on the upper floor with an en-suite bathroom. Just in time for the Sacred Music Festival and tourists coming to visit on spring break. So there is plenty to keep me occupied in my solitude. Next week I have four days off from work (there is a small holiday in honor of the prophet’s birthday). Inshallah, I will travel to Casablanca to meet Hassan’s new employers and we will stay at his sister’s apartment. Hassan’s mind is full of plans for the future and his determination is inspiring. While in Casablanca, we intend to visit the American Consulate to see about securing a visa for him so he can visit the U.S. with me this summer.

Blessed be!