On clothes and sisters...

... or, alternatively titled, "Aisha, Aisha, ecoute moi..."
This is my daughter. Ronja. And though we named our son Mehmet, we haven´t converted to islam. I think. But with all the discussions going on at the moment (Thilo Sarrazin, the mosque near ground zero...) I just felt like sharing this picture. Ronja bought this shawl today on a fair, she spend her pocket money on it, and instructed me to wrap it around her head "like the turkish girls do". So I did. And had a long talk with her about what this symbolizes, and what islam is, and what christianity is, and what religion in general is, and why people think they need it, while she admired herself in every shopwindow reflection she could get her eye on. Now she´s in bed, and I hope she´s sleeping and not reading the Q´ran. Yes, I have one. Just like I have a bible. Or tons of other books. And I believe she won´t understand one word. But if she enjoys it... so what. Ronja is, indeed, pretty spiritual. She likes to marvel about questions like where everything comes from and what will happen after death, she´s a fascinating philosopher and I´m allready looking forward to the paths she will travel in her life. On the contrary, her sister, also made some changes in appearance: Eva more and more begins to dress like a little copy of me. No more little girly pink. She owns an identical copy of my favourite pair of black slim pants. She wanted fake Doc Martens for her winter wardrobe. And she constantly borrows my garnets, my necklace, my earings. And... ahem.. she bought herself some make up. (That I never do!)

I know this is their way to make themselves heard in a family of six. Hence the alternative title. I guess tomorrow I´ll send them both to school the way they want - Eva wearing purple eyeshadow, and Ronja wearing her improvised dupatta. And to those Sarrazin believers - I´m proud that my girls are among the best students in their classes. And I´m proud on their fashion sense and intrest in... well... the colors of life.

I had so many songs for today I loved. The new Sam Tsui song is out, and I listened to Alison Krauss again. But as I´m typing this, I found this song: And though I see it´s about a relationship, I also believe this is a theme to carry through a whole life - "We´ll never know till we try." This is how I´ve always lived, and this is how I want to raise my children.