Mamlekat Joseph

I would like to tell you the story of the best person I ever met, and the greatest gift she ever received.
The story begins in Iran many years ago, while the Shah was still in power. A young woman named Mamlekat had a daughter named Maryam, who was raised with Mamlekat's younger sister Suri. Maryam and Suri were close to the same age and became best friends. They were like sisters. One day the decision was made to go to America, and Maryam and Suri were parted, perhaps never to see each other again in this earth. Mamlekat always remembered saying good bye to her youngest brother, Yaghoub, and giving him a piece of her jewelry from off her neck, telling him to remember her. He always did, as you shall see.
Mamlekat and her husband had troubles in America and got divorced, and soon she and her daughter were alone in a strange land, hardly speaking the language. The Shah fell from power and Iranians in America became the targets of hatred and prejudice. They lost touch with the family back in Iran and could think of no way to find them again or to get home.
Meanwhile, in the fullness of time, Yaghoub grew up and married a beautiful woman named Robab, and the two of them had many fine children, one of whom was a daughter named Nasrin. Now Nasrin grew up hearing her father's stories of her missing aunt, the one who left for America and disappeared. When she grew up herself she decided the time had come to find her missing aunt, and, using whatever resources she had, such as Internet, telephone, and television, began a five year search up and down the length and breadth of America.
About this time Mamlekat, working hard to support herself as best as she could in the strange land she found herself in, met a lonely young man, and for no reason he could ever understand, came to love him. The two were married, and in this manner two broken people came together and became one whole person, each helping the other as best they could. But there was always something missing, and that was the family she had left behind. For she had never forgotten them, Yaghoub, Golpari, Shopari, and all her other brothers and sisters and of course her mother and father. Maryam, too, remembered her childhood friend Suri and missed her.
Then, one day, a message came. Nasrin had called someone, who called someone else, who called someone who knew Mamlekat. And in this way a telephone number came into Mamlekat's possession. She called the number with fear and hope. And God from Heaven decreed that Robab, the wife of Yaghoub, should be the one to answer the phone. Mamlekat, weak from emotion, could only whisper a few words. "I am Mamlekat" was all she could say. But that was all she needed to say. Robab knew immediately who this was from the stories her husband had told her, and ran and got him.
That phone call changed Mamlekat's life forever. For not only did she once again have her family back, there was also a whole new generation to love: Nasrin herself, God's instrument. Also Narges and Leila and Nahid and Ehsan and Sheida and so many many others that if I listed every name it would fill the page. They were the most wonderful, loving people in all the world, and they accepted Mamlekat, who they had never seen, back into the family. So strong was the bond of love between them that the ten thousand miles of ocean that separate our countries was rendered into nothingness.
This was the greatest gift Mamlekat ever received, and because her husband loved her above all else and wanted only her happiness, it was also the greatest gift that he ever received.

It was always her desire to tell this story, and now I have. It is the story of my wife Mamlekat, who I will love until the end of time itself.

May the Lord bless all who read these words. May He grant you peace and eternal happiness.
Amen.

Mamlekat is survived by her husband Michael, her daughter Mary, her beautiful grandchildren Madison and Ryan, and many brothers and sisters and nephews and nieces, all of whom miss her very much. Mamlekat loved her family very deeply, on both sides of the ocean.

Thank you for reading about her.
-- Michael