Team spirit

This is the sweater that warned of things to come.


In the fall of 2004 Ozayr applied, on a whim, for a job at the University of Minnesota. He'd met a few professors from the U of M in Chicago at a conference. They told him that the school was hiring and that he should apply. It wasn't anything that either of us took very seriously at the time. We never really planned on leaving Ottawa in all truth. When possibilities in other cities came up (ever so distant ones, like Montreal or Toronto) we would discount them entirely based on the fact that we would have to leave. When Ozayr was shortlisted for the position I think we were both surprised. Not because he wasn't perfectly qualified of course, but because we'd never truly considered living in Minneapolis as something we would want to do. In fact we didn't even know where Minneapolis was. At one point we estimated it to be south of Edmonton. (Winnipeg is more accurate.)

Ozayr flew out a couple of weeks later for an interview and about 3 days of touring the Twin Cities. Like a dutiful husband and father, he brought us back gifts. A University of Minnesota t-shirt for me and this hoody sweatshirt for Maymuna, who was maybe 18 months at the time. Well, when I laid my eyes upon these gifts he had brought back for us I thought to myself, uh oh. Not a trinket from the airport or a tacky souvenir (cherry on a spoon snowglobe, anyone?). No, he had brought us U of M paraphernalia, and clothing items at that - like we were already part of the team. That's the very first moment when I realized that a change was coming. He must've liked Minneapolis, I thought to myself.

I pulled this little sweater out of storage yesterday, for Hafsa to wear. Of course we are part of the team now and Hafsa is almost the same age Maymuna was when we moved here. I have tried to find a picture of Maymuna wearing it, but I can find not a single one. Somehow I don't think I could bring myself to snap the shot. I think by the time I was reconciled to the idea of moving and fully grasped the benefits for us in Minneapolis, I think she had outgrown it.

Now of course I truly like this city (I would say 'love' if they weren't so many Canadians reading) so I can't wait for Hafsa to wear it. Maybe we'll even take her to a Gophers game.