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Think he’d be able to do it. He seemed not quite prepared enough, and I was a little worried he’d get in a bad situation, which he actually did a number of times. He tends to have a lot of ups and downs on the trail, these mental struggles. He has his personal demons.” He seemed not quite prepared enough, and I was a little worried he’d get in a bad situation, which he actually did a number of times. He tends to have a lot of ups and downs on the trail, these mental struggles. He has his personal demons.” To try and keep his head clear, particularly as the sleep deprivation mounted, Pete called his brother Scott on his SAT phone every day. He couldn’t caller. BUY IT:  Funny Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Dogs And Was Born In September Christmas Shirt

Temperatures in 2017, Pete wondered what might set him back in 2018. And yet, he felt an almost zen-like calm as he lined up at the start next to the six other 1,000-mile-foot-race competitors, including accomplished ultrarunner Beat Jegerlehner. Through the first 500 miles, Pete and Jegerlehner, an accomplished software engineer at Google, often teamed up to break trail together, even though their racing pace and style differed: Jegerlehner liked short, frequent stops while Pete preferred long stretches of walking before taking an extended rest. “I enjoy traveling with him, even though we have very different backgrounds,” Jegerlehner says. “Initially, I did. BUY IT:  Perfect Steelers Pittsburgh Steelers Legends Signatures Shirt

Pilot for his “one eye”) opened the door. “I fell into the Tatina!” Pete screamed, stumbling inside the cabin. “Dear God,” Robbins said, quickly bending over and stripping off Pete’s frozen layers. “Stoke the fire!” he called to the other volunteers as they gathered Pete’s soaked clothing to hang from the clotheslines. After a short nap, he gathered his gear, thanked the volunteers, and headed back onto the trail. When he reached the next checkpoint, another volunteer walked up to him. “A reporter is on the phone for you,” she said. “Bill told them how you almost died, and they want to hear about it.” After his near-death experience in 2016 and the arctic to. BUY IT:  Perfect Sloth Slo Ho Ho Sleeping Shirt

Knew that one misstep in attempting to start a fire would likely mean death. Improbably, his sled had taken in very little water, so his stored supplies were dry. His alternative was to race toward Rohn and hope he arrived before he froze to death. The air temperature hovered around 23 degrees Fahrenheit; warm by Alaskan standards and just temperate enough to keep him from freezing to death within minutes. Pete stood up and tried to take a step. Shaking badly, he fell down. He stood again. This time, he began to run. The ice cracked off of his body in sections as he moved, running at an adrenaline-fueled, 10-minute-mile clip. He sang aloud, “Do Fence Me In,”. BUY IT:  Nice Say It Loud I Am Black Lives Matter Shirt

Fixated on returning in 2016 to attempt the 1,000-mile distance. “People have no idea how many footsteps there are in 1,000 miles of snowy trail,” Merchant says. “You get on the Yukon River and you can’t see the next curve, and the river is two miles wide. And you’re traveling 2.5 miles an hour dragging your sled, and when you see the next curve, it still takes a half day to get there. And then, you just see the next curve.” As he lay sprawled on the Tatina riverbank, Pete faced another life-determining decision: Should he build a fire to dry his clothing and gear, warm himself, then head to Rohn? He was shivering violently, covered in a layer of ice, and he. BUY IT:  Awesome Santa Claus Mask Merry Christ Mask Ugly Shirt

Both feet, exposing raw flesh. Merchant offered to patch them up, cleaning the wounds with alcohol and sealing the soles of Pete’s feet back on to his foot with Vaseline. Then Merchant wrapped them in gauze and sports tape, put two layers of socks over his feet, and then covered his socks with duct tape. “Don’t take your socks off until you finish,” Merchant said. And with that, Pete was off again. Pete had learned from his mistakes — and he couldn’t wait to return. Before the 2015 race, he trained hard, and he was the fittest and strongest he’d been in years. He finished third overall in 161 hours; almost as soon as he called Kristen with the good news, her. BUY IT:  Awesome Retired 2021 Not My Problem Anymore Shirt

Either partially or fully amputated.) That September, his father died in a drunk driving, single-car accident. Pete hadn’t visited him before he died, and he felt his depression taking hold again. Throughout the winter, he set off each morning, trying to outrun his dark thoughts on the snowy mountain trails. When he reached the next checkpoint, he refused to let Merchant see his feet. He was afraid the race marshall would disqualify him if he saw the extensive damage. Merchant reminded Pete that it wasn’t his job to kick racers off the course — they had to do that to themselves. Pete removed his shoes. He had developed blisters underneath the callous pads of. BUY IT:  Premium Pt Physical Therapy Shirt

And you don’t even have to lay out your sleeping bag. It’s already laid out with a chocolate mint on the top. The whole purpose of planning something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain and if you compromise the process, you’re an asshole when you start out and you’re an asshole when you get back.” “It was a pretty sappy email,” Merchant says, surmising that Pete was a “dreamer” who had romanticized the race. Merchant almost ignored the request, but the Chouinard quote caught his eye. “If he would grab onto a quote like that, I figured he had what it took to not die,” Merchant says, noting that when he agreed to let competitors. BUY IT:  Original Penguins Xmas Christmas Shirt

Final marathon in Telluride in 2013, ultimately raising $53,000 for multiple charities.As soon as he finished reading the article, he emailed ITI race marshall Bill Merchant, listing his credentials and detailing his confidence in his ITI capabilities. He closed his email with a quote from Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard: “Taking a trip for six months to get in the rhythm of it. It feels like you can go on forever doing that.Climbing Everest is the ultimate and the opposite of that. Because you get these high-powered plastic surgeons and CEOs, they pay $80,000 and have sherpas put the ladders in place and 8000 feet of fixed ropes and you get to the camps. BUY IT:  Original This Mom Love Her Pitbull Shirt

But again, he was sucked back in. Again, he dog-paddled furiously. As he reached for the icy riverbank on his fifth try, he gripped enough of the surface that he pulled a fraction of his body over top, like a seal breaching water onto the ice. On the slick surface, he slid downward again, back toward the water before pushing up, screaming, willing several more inches of body mass onto the surface. Up, back, up, back, sliding and sliding until he had enough of his body onto the ledge where he could turn and flip over, yanking his sled up onto the riverbank beside him. Finally, at last, his body was on land.After his impromptu marathon, Ripmaster began running. BUY IT:  Hot The Bicycle Cycologist Shirt

And abrupt chills, his entire body shaking violently. “My body just didn’t know what I had done to it,” Pete says. As the roaring waters of the Tatina pulled him under, Ripmaster began swimming upward, desperately clawing toward the surface. He bobbed over the water’s edge, gasping in another big breath. Adrenaline and fear surged through his body as he dog-paddled furiously, fighting the current’s pull, his sled still attached by his harness. Minutes later, he found the shore. Reaching upward with a gloved hand, he slapped at the surface, only to feel ice fracture as he fell back into the current. He tried to get a purchase on the ice,a the surface—anything. BUY IT:  Happy Guitar You Only Know This If You’Re Cool Vintage Retro Shirt

Reds of people talk about how amazing my grandfather was, and I decided to get my life in order.” In 2004, Pete and Kristen decided to move to Asheville. Kristen had grown up in Raleigh, and her family was still in North Carolina. She wanted to be closer to them; Pete wanted to be wherever she was. They agreed on Asheville because of the similarities to Telluride: mountains, skiing, beautiful surroundings. Kristen found a job in marketing and sales while Pete enrolled in classes, first at UNC-Asheville before transferring to Montreat University, where he graduated with a degree in elementary education. They married on September 30, 2006. His friends Michigan. BUY IT:  Good Guitar Retro Rock And Roll Vintage Shirt

Told Dobson that she was unable to afford college tuition. The next afternoon, she found an envelope on her desk with a check and a note attached: “Go get your education — you deserve a great life.” “I’m sitting here, a waste of fucking space, feeling really shitty about myself,” Pete says. “I sat in that pew, listening to hundreds of people talk about how amazing my grandfather was, and I decided to get my life in order.” The next morning, he pledged that he would become a teacher, as a way to give back and start helping others. “I’m sitting here, a waste of fucking space, feeling really shitty about myself,” Pete says. “I sat in that pew, listening to hund. BUY IT:  Top Golf Cart Life Is Always Good On The Golf Course Vintage Shirt

His left arm, slamming the pole down several times: thwack, thwack, thwack! checking to ensure the ice held. When it did, he took a step. Then he lifted his right arm, repeating the process on that side. Thwack, thwack, thwack. Step. Thwack, thwack, thwack. Step again. Slowly, he moved over the rushing water. Several months after she passed away, Pete moved to Alaska, a place he’d been curious about since he was a child. He found a job caring for sled dogs, first in Trapper Creek and then as part of the team working for future Iditarod Champion Mitch Seavey in Sterling, Alaska. The work was rewarding but also exhausting; after three years, he decided he  had. BUY IT:  Hot Toilet Paper And Gilf Oh Quaran Tree Christmas Shirt

At best. He didn’t see any tracks indicating someone had crossed. If he fell through, the current would rush him straight toward water that he estimated was 10 to 12 feet deep. No one would ever know — he would just disappear. Finally, he looked to the left, where a small, natural bridge stood three feet over the rushing water. He knew that if he fell in there, given the path’s close proximity to the shoreline, he’d have a slim hope of swimming out. He saw a singular set of recent tracks, which linked back up to the main trail. That’s my path, he thought. Pete grabbed his trekking poles firmly in each hand and began pounding the ice in front of him. He lifte. BUY IT:  Hot I Light Fire And Make Beer Disappear What’S Your Superpower Vintage Shirt

And replace his mother’s with his, so she could live even if he could not.Hillary fought for four years before dying from cancer on November 22, 2000. Pete had just turned 24 years old. Pete thought of his mom, her determination and willpower, as he thanked the snowmobilers on the ITI and decided to keep moving. He stood at the base of the Tatina crossing, a 25-yard-wide river of furious, rushing water, bordered on both sides by ice-covered riverbanks. He had an eerie feeling as he examined his options, but he was less than four miles from the next checkpoint, where a hot meal, fire, and rest waited. To his right, a small footpath of ice and snow looked shak. BUY IT:  Good Stitch Grumpy But Lovable Shirt

The day while his father worked. Early one morning, Pete walked into her room and found her sitting up in bed, crying. “I don’t want to die, Pete,” she said, almost in a whisper. Several weeks later, Pete sat and talked with his father. He asked Chris if there was a way that doctors could take his healthy organs out, one by one, and replace his mother’s with his, so she could live even if he could not. If so, he wanted to start the procedures right away. “Pete, it doesn’t work that way,” Chris said, shaking his head, as Pete cried. Pete sat and talked with his father. He asked Chris if there was a way that doctors could take his healthy organs out, one by on. BUY IT:  Good Rugby Is Played By Men With Odd Shaped Balls Vintage Retro Shirt

His own arms with a towel and carefully, slowly pulled Chris’s head and neck back out through the glass, afraid that the whole wall would crash down and decapitate his father. After helping Chris to his feet, Scott laid him on the bed, as Chris continued to bleed and peed through the sheets. According to Scott, he and his mother walked in; she began screaming before calling 911. As the paramedics and ambulanc e arrived, Chris, still drunk, yelled repeatedly about how Scott needed to get to school. From a young age, Pete also struggled with early signs of depression. He had few friends, and in fifth grade, he was bullied throughout the year. He frequently tol. BUY IT:  Pretty Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Dogs And Was Born In September Christmas Shirt

Brooding, demanding, and somber. At 6:44 a.m., Scott awoke to the sound of a chandelier crashing to the floor. He sat up in bed and thought, What the heck is going on? We don’t have a chandelier. He walked into the bathroom attached to Sarah’s room and saw his father, lying with his head and neck through the glass shower doors, covered in blood. Chris had walked into the bathroom to use the toilet, but he was so inebriated that he’d passed out and fallen backward, his head crashing through the glass door behind him. Blood was inside the shower, outside on the floor, on the glass. “It was the bloodiest scene I’ve ever seen in my life,” Scott says. Scott wrapp. BUY IT:  Nice Check Out My Six Pack Funny Best Gift For Christmas T-Shirt

Several thousand dollars. Chris grinned, proud of the ostentatious status symbol he had given his wife; Hillary turned toward her children with a serious expression on her face, saying nothing. While she wore it a few times, the coat hung in a closet for years, rarely used. When he was happy, Chris was the center of every social scenario: gregarious, brash, and charming. People flocked to him, and he’d buy lunch for everyone in a restaurant simply because it was a nice day outside (while flirting with the waitresses). But later, a diagnosis of depression and bipolar disorder explained the other persona that sometimes emerged, especially when he was drinkings. BUY IT:  Good Being Related To Me Is Really Only Gift T-Shirt

He only jogged when practice demanded it. Pete didn’t care much for academics either, focusing instead on sports, girls, music, and parties, much like his father. Chris worked long hours as a very successful auto parts salesman, and the family lived in a large house and drove fancy cars, the personification of Chris’s ostentatious, dreamer lifestyle. One year at Christmas, Chris wrapped up one of Hillary’s old sweaters in a clothing box. She opened it up and asked, “What is this? This is my sweater.” Chris laughed and said, “Why don’t you go look in the front hall closet?” Hillary walked  the closet, opened the door, and saw a full-length raccoon coat, worth. BUY IT:  Funny Xmask Merry Christ Mask 2020 Quarantine Christmas T-Shirt

Solute limit.” Pete grew up enduring hard winters in the suburbs of Detroit. He was a wild, stubborn, and willful child — and a phenomenal athlete. He and his brother Scott, four years younger, transformed even ordinary activities into athletic endeavors. When their father, Chris, told them to rake the leaves under their front yard’s large Dutch elm, the brothers would gather the leaves into a pile before placing a big bucket in the middle. Scott would stand at the pile’s perimeter with an armful of leaves and run forward, attempting to stuff them into the container while Pete tried to block him or knock him down. The one sport he strongly dislike as running. BUY IT:  Original Seniors The One Where They Graduate 2021 Shirt

Journeying the same route the famed Iditarod sled dogs and their mushers would begin a week later. But this adventure was unlike any others. He had no phone, no GPS, no support crew. Pete had promised his wife, Kristen, that if he reached a point that felt exceptionally dangerous, he’d stop, build a fire, and wait for the next person behind him. But Kristen knew that her husband thrived as a soloist in the face of life-threatening challenges. “Most people like to live in a comfortable bubble where we know what to expect and how to survive,” Kristen says. “Pete likes those situations where he loses control and has to figure it out by pushing himself to the ab. BUY IT:  Funny Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Dogs And Was Born In April Christmas Shirt

Top of the ice, making it nearly invisible. When hikers think they’re walking on sturdy ice, they’ll take a step, only to feel their foot fall one or two feet underwater. If the air temperature is 15 degrees below zero, wet equals death. Through years of battling his addictive personality, Pete had stumbled into the ultrarunning and adventure world eight years prior, after an impromptu decision to run a roadside marathon turned into a life passion. By the spring of 2015, having completed 50 marathons in 50 states, several 100-mile races, a 200-mile ultra, and the 350-mile ITI distance twice, he began to fixate on this singular goal: 1,000 miles across Alaska. BUY IT:  Good Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Dogs And Was Born In August Christmas Shirt

The race, Pete crossed the treacherous, icy ascent and descent of Rainy Pass, which, together with the subsequent Tatina River crossing, was one of the most dangerous sections of the ITI. As Pete approached the Tatina alone, he ran into a group of buffalo hunters on snowmobiles. They sat, idling, and asked Pete where he was headed  “You’re going over the Tatina? Alone? Be careful. We almost fell through the ice coming up,” they said. The hunters described patches of overflow, where the ice was submerged under a thin layer of water. With overflow, the combination of ice and snow, and its subsequent pressure, is so heavy that it pushes the water outside and on. BUY IT:  Nice Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Dogs And Was Born In February Christmas Shirt

Pete told himself that after last year’s third-place finish in the 350-mile ITI competition, he didn’t need to train for the additional 650-mile journey; instead, he would get into shape on the trail. Illogical, his friends said, reminding him that the 1,000-mile ITI — the world’s first and longest winter ultramarathon — was one of the most challenging physical experiences on the planet. As a race volunteer fired a .44 revolver to signal the start, Pete began moving at a steady clip, pulling his 55-pound sled packed with food and supplies. He cleared 60 miles on day one, reaching the first checkpoint. In the early afternoon of his third day, 184 miles into a. BUY IT:  Top Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Dogs And Was Born In January Christmas Shirt

Splendid ultimate triumph.” As he stood at the 2016 Iditarod Trail Invitational (ITI) starting line in the predawn of February 28th, Peter Ripmaster had an ominous feeling. The 6’1”, 220-pound 39-year-old was more than 40 pounds overweight, his stomach folding over his waist harness as he readjusted his face mask and gloves before beginning the 1,000-mile footrace across the frozen Alaskan terrain. He tucked his shaggy brown hair into his hat, wishing for a joint. Looking at the handful of fit, svelte runners around him, their breath forming clouded circles in the crystalline air, he shook his head. Before leaving his family’s home a Asheville,North Carolina. BUY IT:  Hot Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Dogs And Was Born In June Christmas Shirt

Professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She has published three collections of short stories in Farsi in Iran and Europe. Her memoir, The House on Sun Street, depicts her memories of growing in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution and the years of war between Iran and Iraq. “I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the. BUY IT:  Awesome Christmas Skateboarding Santa T-Shirt

All the sage in the world. And isn’t it true that — one way or another — we will all lose the home that embeds our childhood memories? That the loss of home is the inevitable fate of us all, as we age and part from the place where we were born? Maybe my agony for the old fig tree originates from my ache for the lost Eden, for the void Garden, the vanished Abode, the forgotten Land. Or for the old fable of the invisible bond between the mythical tree and me. Maybe — like what the guard said at the gate of the Sun Street — I should not pry open the bleeding wounds of the past. Maybe I should just try to keep my good old memories. Mojgan Ghazirad is an assistan. BUY IT:  Perfect Ho Ho Holy Shit What A Year Christmas Shirt

Air and lands on the girl’s lap. The hull glitters during the sail as if a thousand mirrors are worked on the outer surface. I remember the conversation I had once with my grandfather, when he was working on the edges of a mirror artwork. I’d asked, “Agha Joon, can I cut this mirror in half?” He shook his head. I buy a small water bowl and exit the crystal store. Will I ever learn not to cut myself? Will I be able to spare my heart while dissecting memories of the past? Can I avoid cutting open the old wound from losing our home? Will I ever stop brooding for the home we were forced to surrender to the Islamic government? With time, my grandfather says, ands. BUY IT:  Perfect This Is My Christmas Pajama Shirt Dabbing Dog Santa Hat Christmas Dog Dabbing Dance T-Shirt

China on display. There are many young girls accompanying their mothers in this area. It’s a tradition in Iran that a bride’s family provides the chinaware to the newlyweds. In one crystal store, fashionable Czech crystals glitter on mirrored shelves. The parallel mirrors increase the images of the crystals to infinity. A 24-karat gold ring embellishes the new crystals’ rims. The shop boy polishes the golden rim of a fruit bowl with a damp towel and hands it to a young girl whose soft braided hair is showing beneath her white scarf. She has delicately lined her eyes with black kohl, making them look larger in her face. The boat-shaped fruit bowl sails in the. BUY IT:  Nice The Griinch Drink Dutc Bros Coffee Christmas Shirt

Each herb possesses. My grandmother loved rose petals. She sprinkled the tiny pink particles over the early harvest of fava beans in the spring. She believed the petals prevented stomachache from the beans. The salesman mixes seven different spices for me. Sumac powder snows on the crushed cumin in the plastic bag. He pours the turmeric on top and hands the layered spice bag to me. He comments that his spice recipe can be added to any stew or curry. “Take it with you to America,” he says, “It will work like magic.” The beauty of curved shapes draws me to the china stores.The narrow paths of the bazaar in that section shine from the light reflected off  white. BUY IT:  Happy Thanksgiving Is Over Christmas Is Coming Meow Year Thanksgiving Is Over T-Shirt

Street, and enter the heavenly garden that nurtured the fig tree. The day I plan to go to Tehran’s Grand Bazaar it’s cloudy. Rain is a rare incident in Iran nowadays, and the country is suffering from years of drought. A few drops fall on my cheeks as I get out of the taxi. The indelible perfume of earth disperses as the drops mix with dust on the ground. It heralds the end of the sweltering summer and enunciates the advent of Mehr, the first month of fall in the Persian calendar. People express joy on the streets, as if pearls are descending from the sky. When was the last time it rained in Tehran? The vaulted entrance of the bazaar absorbs the buyers likes. BUY IT:  Awesome Unicorn I'M Smiling Because I Know Karma Will Bitch Slap You Eventually Shirt

Picked the ripened figs and threw them down to us. Sometimes the broad leaves landed on our heads like little doll umbrellas as he pulled the boughs to pluck the fruit. If a fig fell down by mistake, we raced to snatch it from the ground. We played a game to see whose basket filled up first. My grandfather listened to our ravings and tried to distribute them equally. I see my grandfather between the leaves. He whispers the old fable of Man and the Fig Tree in my ears. The Mythical Tree, the one that covers Man and his mate with its leaves. The Oath Tree, the one about which Allah makes a vow, regarding its yield. I wish I could traipse the other end of there. BUY IT:  Happy Oh Quaran Tree Christmas Gift Idea Oh Quarantree T-Shirt

Wrought iron bars. Tendrils of black ivy climb them, their heart-shape leaves facing the sky. I had passed those iron tendrils hundreds of times on sunny days, when I rode my bicycle up and down this street. Ripe figs wink at me from above a brick wall opposing the window. I cross the street and search the sidewalk for sticky stains of fallen fruit. Squished figs have polka-dotted the mosaic tiles of the sidewalk. I am reminded of the tree in my grandfather’s garden. He loved gardening and asked my sister and me to help him with the garden work. He slanted the short ladder toward the fig tree and gave each of us a basket to stand under the tree with while he. BUY IT:  Funny Snowman All I Want For Christmas Is My Grandkids Shirt

Years, to see this patch of Earth, and to revisit the past I’ve been writing about for the last two-and-a-half years. In my memories, I roam around the Sun Street, searching every corner of the house where I lived my childhood dreams. I reach the other end of the street, where pedestrians are allowed to walk, to get to their homes. The sidewalks are still narrow like before. The Chenar trees have grown tall and thick, their seaweed green leaves turning yellow in the last days of August. The houses are still attached like 30 years ago, but many new, contemporary homes are plugged in between. I pause beside a wide window that faces the street. It is guarded by. BUY IT:  Top Santa's Favorite Occupational Therapist Shirt

Turned dirty and dark, reading, “The Museum of the Holy Koran.” There is a narrow, tunnel-like detour beyond the gate to the museum, but the palace is closed to the public. The Guardian Counsel of the Islamic Republic holds its regular meetings inside the edifice. I walk alongside the barbed-wired, monumental walls of the Marble Palace toward the Sun Street. The northern side of the street is closed to passersby by iron chains, and two police officers are guarding the entrance. I hope I can schmooze my way in just for a quick visit. I approach the older officer and ask him if I can pass. I have come all the way from Washington, D.C. to Tehran, after so manys. BUY IT:  Hot A Dog Isn't Just For Christmas A Dog Isnt Just For Christmas T-Shirt

Other nonstop. The palace was built by Reza Shah and he resided there with his family until he was forced to abdicate the throne in September 1941. After Reza Shah, his son, Mohammad Reza, came into power, and all his three marriage ceremonies took place in this palace. With its delicately tiled dome and white marble walls, the Marble palace once shone like a sublime coral castle in the green sea of surrounding gardens. But now, the pristine white walls have turned gray, after years of soot and lead precipitating on them. The magnificent Lion and Sword emblem of the Pahlavi Dynasty engraved on the arched gate has been replaced by a neon green banner that has. BUY IT:  Original If You Hurt My Cat I Will Slap You So Hard Even Google Won't Be Able To Find You Shirt

Sun Street. I pass the sport shops that are abundant at this part of the street. The shops are not busy, due to the economic crisis that happened a month ago, the value of the Iranian Toman falling to one-fifth of its previous value in its exchange rate with the American Dollar. Where a dollar once bought 3,000 Tomans, it can now buy 15,000. Very few customers enter the shops. People gaze at the astronomical prices attached to the Sketchers and Nikes, and pass. I am surprised to see the sport shops still presenting the American brands in the stores. I pass the Sepah intersection where the Marble Palace is located. The intersection is busy and cars honk  each. BUY IT:  Good Cat Meow Band And Drum Shirt

Which covered my curly hair. “Of course,” he said, “You can buy two. Let them be pairs.” trees flank the wide street and their broad leaves offer a pleasant, cool shade to pedestrians. One of the oldest streets in Tehran, Vali-Asr starts in the South, at Tehran’s railway station, and stretches all the way to the mountainous North. The railway station was built in 1927 by Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty, the last monarchy before the Revolution. The street connects the important squares of Tehran and many historical events have occurred on its pavement. Based on the calculation on Google Maps, there is a 15-minute walk from Monirieh Square to the. BUY IT:  Good School Is Important But Muscles Are Importanter Vintage Retro Shirt

The shops. Golden bangles glitter on models’ hands, their nails long. They are perfect for little girls, dangling on their soft wrists as they dance. We used to treasure the bangles like trophies we’d found on a victorious journey to a faraway, unfamiliar land. I step into one of the jewelry shops. The guy at the counter asks me if I need help and I ask for the tray of rings on display. “Those are for little girls, khanoom,” he says. I nod and pick a blue butterfly with golden dots. I roll it onto my pinky, the only finger it fits. I recall being here with my grandfather. I’d asked, “Agha Joon, will you buy this for me?” He smiled and patted my floral chador. BUY IT:  Official There Is Nothing That Jesus And Baseball Can't Get Me Through Vintage Shirt

And every time we came here with my grandfather, he only bought naans with two bowls of yogurt for us. My sister and I loved the Reyhan Restaurant, for it lacked the luxurious ambiance of the places we normally dined, and the servers liked us and treated us like little princesses coming from another world. Men wore chapeau hats and tied red, checkered handkerchiefs around their necks, made morsels of wrapped kebabs in small pieces of naan and ate them with their hands, quite an unusual scene in a house of kebab in northern Tehran. In Rey Bazaar I search for the Jewelry shops. Rows of rings with flowers, butterflies or hearts are on display in the vitrines of. BUY IT:  Original There Is Nothing That Jesus And The Gym Can't Get Me Through Vintage Retro Shirt

With his stories, and all these 20 years that have passed, I have visited him only a couple of times. His stories — the tales he’d kept in his heart to unveil for my sister and me on the hot summer nights, when we all slept under the canopy in the front terrace of his house, gazing at the bright, shining stars of Tehran. The Rey Traditional Bazaar beside the shrine in southern Tehran, brims with people. They go to restaurants after the Friday Prayer, where two skewers of kebab are served with fresh batches of mint on oven-baked, whole wheat naans. The mouth-watering smell of grilled kebabs fills the bazaar at noon. My mother never trusted those restaurants a. BUY IT:  Awesome Ralphie's Fine Soap Flavored Fudge Christmas Story T-Shirt

But now, with the scant elm trees remaining in the corners, and the burning sun scorching the gravestones, the Parrot Garden is nothing but a wistful name. I find my grandfather’s grave, a flat granite stone at the eastern corner of the cemetery where many respectful businessmen from Tehran’s Bazaar are buried. He owned a glaziery in the bazaar, and made many mirror artworks in his workshop. I fetch some water from the ablution pool and wash the hot stone with my hand. The epitaph emerges letter by letter: Here, the resting place of a respectful Hajj pilgrim, a beloved father and husband. I lost this man 20 years ago. The man who shaped my childhood imaginat. BUY IT:  Premium Unicorn Aunt Life Feed Them Junk And Send Them Back Shirt

Obligation forced on women by the Islamic government. I wore it then ceremonially, with childhood gaiety as we ran and played in the chambers of Abdul Azim. I leave the shrine and pace into the garden. I wonder why they have named the cemetery adjacent to the shrine, “The Parrot Garden.” Maybe the garden, before being turned into a cemetery, was full of green parrots living on the elm trees, like the heaven’s garden described in old Persian texts. Parrots are silent to the aliens according to those texts, but if they’re tamed, they can reveal secrets of the universe to their companions. Maybe the parrots were telling the secrets of the dead a original garden. BUY IT:  Hot Yes I Am Old But I Saw Bruce Springsteen On Stage Signature Shirt

The fine Persian carpets on the marbled floor, for the prayer. A little girl with a cute floral chador bumps into me while chasing after her sister. She looks at me and smiles as an apology. Her blushed cheeks are budding out of her chador. I remember the time I came to the shrine with my grandfather and my sister, roughly at her age, a nearly identical floral chador engulfing me.I tugged the rubber band sewn into the chador’s sides around my ears, so that it wouldn’t slip from my head. It was fun to wear those colorful chadors, a ritual for visiting the shrine, and a reminder of the time before the Iranian Revolution when hijab-wearing was not a, compulsory. BUY IT:  Top Bass Players Finger Better Vintage Retro Shirt

The high mountains of Alborz and drive to Rey prairie, where the cemetery is located. As we get close, the tar-filled, compressed buildings of Tehran give way to vegetable farms. The young workers shade their faces with straw hats as they pluck mint leaves or uproot basil. Scattered Elm and Poplar trees stand at the corners, remnants of crowded rows of trees that flanked the farms.The hymns from the minarets of the Abdul Azim shrine are music to my ears. It is Friday and soon there will be noon prayers there. I enter from the eastern gate and rush to get to the Parrot Garden, where my grandfather is buried. Inside the chambers, the shrine keepers a spreading. BUY IT:  Funny Guitar You Only Know This If You're Cool Vintage Retro Shirt

The only girl in the world who knew the secret of the honeysuckle flowers. I hire a Snapp, the Iranian version of an Uber, to take me to Abdul Azim Shrine, where my grandfather is buried. A mature woman drives the car. This is the first time I have a female driver in Tehran. She is wearing a light hijab, most of her hair peeking out from beneath her cherry red shawl.I notice her painted, curved nails as she touches her mobile screen, which is facing her on a stand. She knows the roads well and uses the Waze App to avoid Tehran’s heavy traffic. It is so entertaining to observe the app’s voice speaking the long-forgotten words in formal Farsi. We descend fromr. BUY IT:  Nice I Am So Fucking Merry Skull Christmas Shirt

Window facing the backyard. The cold breeze of the August night embraces my cheeks. Here, in northern Tehran, the chillness of the night is still awakening. The honeysuckles have pawed and clung to the neighbors’ wall. The bone-white cement on the wall is now brushed with vivid green. A scant number of yellow flowers still hang from the vines. I remember the days I impatiently waited for the young, white flowers to ripen and change color, becoming golden yellow, in my grandfather’s garden. He had revealed their secret to me. If I pinched the yellow flower and pulled out the thin, inner string, a pearl-drop of honey nectar awaited me at the e. I thought I was. BUY IT:  Official I Like My Pontoon And Maybe 3 People Vintage Retro Shirt

That used to be here, when I last traveled from the airport to Tehran. The driver laments the broken economy of the land, the depreciation of the Iranian currency and the sense of insecurity people feel every day. He asks if I enjoy living in America in the Trump era. I realize this is going to be the main question people will ask me during my stay in Tehran. I just smile and don’t elaborate. The flight has been too long and I am too tired for a serious discussion with a stranger. We reach my parents’ apartment in the high mountains of Alborz. I pull off the sheets covering the furniture, draw back the lacy curtains that blind the guest bedroom, and open the. BUY IT:  Perfect LGBT Love Wins Shirt

With so many younger generation artists to choose from, he is still listening to a pre-revolutionary singer in his car. Is he, like many Iranians, trying to cling to the glory of the past? We pass the golden dome of the mausoleum housing the late Ayatollah Khomeini — founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic. With its four illuminating minarets, the structure shines like a jewel in the desert at night. “They’ve named this area the sun city,” the driver says and points to the urban structure facing my right. “They’ve built five-star hotels, guest suites, a children’s amusement park, a book fair, and even a university.” I remember the parched landed. BUY IT:  Premium Guys Still Rock Vintage Retro Shirt