The Beloved of God

An old Persian saying has it that guests are the beloved of God, or مهمان حبیب خداست
and as such, we always have a designated guestroom with clean sheets and scented candles that is freshly vacuumed and has "Pledged" shiny surfaces, lest they offend the "beloved of God." This past weekend, we had the distinct pleasure of hosting Elham and Elika Shabrokh and one of Elham's classmates, James, a Baha'i from Blacksburg at our home. We had a glorious time, especially since the guests brought the Ghormeh Sabzi! It is worthwhile to mention that the Persian food was prepared by James himself and it rivaled one of the best I have ever had.

The weather was rainy outside, so we did not venture out much, but we managed to cover a variety of topics ranging from fashion and gastronomy to US foreign policy. Despite our best efforts, we could not convince the guests to utilize the scented candles and the clean sheets and they chose to depart for Blacksburg instead. I guess I will save the Pledge wipes until the next round of God's Beloved people appear at 2328 Finch Court sometime soon!