{"id":8158,"date":"2026-03-11T10:43:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/?p=8158"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:51:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:51:57","slug":"%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa-my-souls-address-now-and-always","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/2026\/03\/11\/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa-my-souls-address-now-and-always\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0627\u0644\u0625\u0645\u0627\u0631\u0627\u062a \u2014 my soul’s address, now and always."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

I was born of this desert air,
\ncradled in the warmth of a sky so wide
\nit swallowed all my fears whole.
\nAbu Dhabi \u2014 not merely a city,
\nbut the first word my heart ever learned
\nto call\u00a0home.<\/p>\n

My mother’s hands, my father’s stories,
\nthe schoolyard where I grew my bones \u2014
\nall of it held gently, quietly,
\nby a land that asked nothing of us
\nbut that we\u00a0thrive.
\nAnd so we did.<\/p>\n

Now I watch my daughters run
\nacross the same bright earth,
\ntheir laughter rising like a call to prayer
\ninto the blue of an Emirati morning \u2014
\nand I understand, fully,
\nwhat it means to be\u00a0safe.<\/p>\n

Beyond these borders, the world shivers.
\nStorms gather, fires speak in ugly tongues.
\nYet here \u2014 here the streets are lit,
\nthe hospitals stand ready,
\nthe children sleep without flinching
\nat sounds in the night.<\/p>\n

This is not luck. This is\u00a0vision.
\nA leadership that looked at sand
\nand saw towers.
\nThat looked at heat
\nand built gardens.
\nThat looked at its people
\nand chose \u2014 always \u2014\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

From the skyline that speaks of ambition
\nto the quiet policeman on a quiet road,
\nfrom the museums that tell us who we are
\nto the hospitals that keep us here \u2014
\nevery detail whispers one truth:
\nyou are cared for.<\/p>\n

I have walked these roads in every season of my life \u2014
\nas a child, as a dreamer,
\nas a woman, as a mother.
\nAnd in each season this country met me
\nnot with walls
\nbut with\u00a0wings.<\/p>\n

So let this be my prayer,
\nmy offering, my small and earnest salute \u2014
\nto a nation that holds many nations in its arms
\nand calls them all\u00a0welcome.
\nTo a flag that flies
\nnot just above us, but\u00a0for\u00a0us.<\/p>\n

May the date palms never stop their bowing.
\nMay the Gulf keep singing its ancient lullaby.
\nMay this land be blessed
\nas deeply as it has blessed me \u2014
\nroot by root, star by star,
\ngeneration after generation.
\nI have lived no other sky.
\nI need no other home.
\n\u0627\u0644\u0625\u0645\u0627\u0631\u0627\u062a \u2014 my soul’s address,
\nnow and always.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

– a parent of Merryland<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was born of this desert air, cradled in the warmth of a sky so wide it swallowed all my fears whole. Abu Dhabi \u2014 not merely a city, but the first word my heart ever learned to call\u00a0home. My mother’s hands, my father’s stories, the schoolyard where I grew my bones \u2014 all of it held gently, quietly, by a land that asked nothing of us but that we\u00a0thrive. And so we did. Now I watch my daughters run across the same bright earth, their laughter rising like a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34,29,35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8158"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8162,"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158\/revisions\/8162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merrylandinternational.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}