A Remembrance of Faerial Mahmood

On the first night of October 2020, a “Harvest” full moon shone as bright as a giant lantern that had broken free from its earthly bonds.  The next morning as Kit and I set out on our morning walk, the brilliance of the moon and stars began to fade with the approaching dawn.  At that moment, time fell backward to a journey Kit and I made 18 years ago to celebrate the life of his niece Faerial Mahmood—daughter of his eldest sister, Kate.  What follows is that remembrance.

Cathy Salter

Sitting in the Bradley Field air terminal as we prepare to fly home, there’s finally time to reflect on all that has happened over the past two days.  I’m holding a bouquet of long-stemmed pink roses pulled from the rich abundance that recently filled the Mt. Carmel Congregational Church in Hamden, CT.  My heart is full.  

A stone at the entrance to the Bradley terminal dates the structure. “1951,” I’d pointed out to Kit as we entered the building, “is the same year Faer was born in Rawalpindi.”  The terminal, we learn from a security agent, now serves only American flights and will soon be torn down.  I want to argue that 52 years is hardly old enough for a building to be condemned or a young woman filled with life to die.

~ Read the rest in today’s Journal ~