Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – Paula Booher

May 11, 2006

I am introducing a new writer today. Roxanne Morris becomes writer #321, for Storytime Tapestry.  She has a wonderful and very informative tale to tell.  This is a Mommy story, but not your regular Mothers Day fare, I think you will agree.  Please email her and welcome her to our family.

MS and Mummy's Curse            
 Roxanne Morris

Email: roxfox1@globally.net

            Because I flew to Egypt as an airline employee, I was traveling on a standby status. I packed everything into one lightweight carryon bag; the bag had to be small and light enough to be stashed onboard.

I flew from SFO to NYC via an American airline. I waited to board Egypt Air at JFK. As an airline employee, I was a standby passenger. That's the risk an airline employee takes to fly for free

I came back from my trip to Egypt in February 1985. Two months later in April. I kept seeing a darkened area through both eyes. I thought that I might need to wear glasses, which I did not want to wear, and because I knew I could not afford to buy expensive contact lenses.

            But contact lenses can be made to show my eyeballs colored a deeper green. Having a very small ego, contact lenses would have become suddenly affordable.

            I saw an optometrist in a medical office building nearby. The optometrist quickly examined my eyes, and then told me to cover one eye. I then walked down the hallway One Eyed to an ophthalmologist's office. This doctor made arrangements for me to have a M.R.I., Magneto Resonance Imaging, test.

            It was a little scary to have my entire body enclosed within a narrow tube when the M.R.I. scans were taken. M.R.I. images showed that I had brain lesions, and that I most likely had Multiple Sclerosis. MS. It is an incurable disease of the central nervous system. Thousands of people in the U.S. and other countries have this illness, and the disease affects all people differently.

            This was a diagnosis I got one month after my travels to Egypt. I thought that I had received a Mummy Curse when I went inside the Great Pyramid two months before in February. I think the curse affected my central nervous system, which is scarier than anything I saw in Egypt.  Like climbing up the narrow stairs inside the Great Pyramid (Pharaoh Cheops) on the Giza Plateau, or seeing an Egyptian man sitting on the ground and smoking a lot of leaves out of a RaidTM can.

            Because Egypt is so far away from California U.S.A., there is a significant time difference. Egypt is ahead of California time by almost a full day. I was not able to adjust to the time change. It seemed as if I was always half asleep while I was in Egypt. I laughed while I was in my hotel room in Cairo when I thought of myself as an American Mummy, although I had no kids.

            When I first arrived in Egypt via Egypt Air at the Cairo International Airport, there were men within the air terminal who had machine guns on their shoulders. It was a rather scary arrival.

            My hotel room at the hotel Mena House in Cairo had a grand view of the three pyramids on the Giza plateau. While I was there, I had tried to recuperate my sleep energy. My needed sleep eluded me, even in this grand hotel. But I
was energized enough to become excited about going into the fascinating
Great Pyramid on the Giza plateau.
            But I think that's when and where I got the Mummy's Curse. There was no
mummy within the sarcophagus, but what about the ghost of Pharaoh Cheops?
I think his ghost cursed me nevertheless.

            It still remains a mystery as to how the ancient Egyptian workmen, said to be about 100,000 in number were able to construct this particular pyramid: It had so many pieces of limestone. The stones were so acutely placed during its construction: It is said that it took about twenty years to complete the building of this particular pyramid.

            Within the Cairo area, it was both interesting and bothersome that children always begged for Bakish. It was called begging for money, or as I now say, “Doing Bakish.” I remember getting slapped by one kid because the bakish amount that I gave him was not enough. He obviously wanted more. I remember wondering why these kids were NOT in a school, but begging on the streets instead.

              But when I was touring Upper (southern) Egypt in a native area, I saw three children outside of what I assumed to be their parent's little shop. They appeared to be busy doing their homework. Happily surprised, I took a picture of them with my travel camera. It was a photo that I later put it in a special place inside my Egypt photo album.
            When I went inside of the Great Pyramid, I climbed upwards through narrow doubt, climbed up those stairs an inordinate number of times before.

            Something special happened when the tourists, who were actually airline employees with their family members, arrived inside the actual King's Chamber: A photograph was taken of me standing next to this older man. He was much shorter than I was, and we both smiled at the person who took our picture. It was also put in a special place inside my Egypt photo album.
            One of the also extremely fascinating places that I saw was inside the Cairo museum. Although it was a little dusty, I was able to finally see many old Egyptian artifacts. I had seen photographs of many of these items inside of
books I read while I attended high school and college. King Tutankhamun was not there while on a Tut Tour inside of the U.S. But Pharaoh Tutankamun did have an entire floor in the museum dedicated to him. I had wished I could have seen this pharaoh and some of his items that he had while living.

  There is currently a suspicion that King Tutankhamen had been murdered. He had been so very young. He was only age nine when he ascended the throne and became a pharaoh, but he was old enough though to marry his half-sister.
This pharaoh has made people very curious for centuries about his death.
 
            After taking the WagonLits train to the Aswan area, I checked into my Upper Egypt hotel. The Hotel Aswan was comfortable and lovely. But I wondered about Egyptian food and water. I ate only little of the food, and drank only bottled water. I wanted to be safe, astronomically speaking.
 
            When I traveled to the Karnak and Luxor areas in Upper Egypt, I visited several temples of ancient lords and pharaohs including the Temple of Isis, Temple of Ramses III, and the Temple of Horus. Probably the BIGGEST anything that I saw in Upper Egypt was the COLOSSI of Mennen
 
            An archaeologist in 1985 had discovered some absolutely weathered tombs. Another name for the word tomb is mausoleum. As many as 50 to 52 sons of Ramses II mausoleums were found. Tomb robbers managed to get inside the mausoleums, and stole many golden and jeweled items. In fact, there wasn't anything left to steal. The Nile had risen several times and had flooded the mausoleums.

            Ramesses II  was married to the beautiful Nefertari, who had died during the 24th year of his reign. She was buried in a beautifully decorated tomb in the Valley of the Kings. But this particular Ramesses pharaoh was probably noted for his conquests and his many wives

The wives were called consorts before Ramesses II was a great pharaoh and had a family and throughout his reign, his growing family would serve to strengthen his rule of Egypt. In fact, of all the rulers in Egypt. Ramesses II may have had one of the largest of all families, consisting of many wives, and as many as fifty sons and fifty daughters of his principal consorts. However, it is likely that his extended family was even much larger than this. He may have certainly sired children who he never even became aware of, by legitimate consorts.

     When it was time to leave the Aswan area, I took the Egypt's WagonLits train up the Nile River. I was able to get a room again at the Hotel Mena House in Cairo. I slept well, and was a little ready to leave this wonderful country.

    At the Cairo airport the next day, the men within the air terminal building who wore machine guns on their shoulders would no longer scare me.

    If I was again able to board an American airplane now to go back to Egypt, I would also be quite pleased. I would even pay dollars for all of my flights because standby tickets are not available for me anymore.
I believe I have been given a gentle Mummy Curse, so I would travel back to Egypt.

I have been drinking Kombucha mushroom tea for almost three years, and it’s been since 1985 that I got my MS diagnosis; I can now get out of my wheelchair and often successfully use a Walker. 

This short story is about  some precious memories of
childhood ~ spent on the farm with  grandmother and grandpa:


4/21/2006

Midnight