In December 2011 I boarded on a flight to Israel. I told myself I’m going to visit friends and maybe I can coincidentally bump in to my ex boyfriend. In reality I was pretty obsessed with this guy and so wanted to see him and be with him. While walking through the streets of Jerusalem I was in a state between excitement and anxiety. Every time I saw a person with big curly hair I frozen. Is this Reem? No it wasn’t. It’s a weird feeling that you wish for something, but than when you have a feeling it might be right in front of you, you freeze and want to run.
I was talked into one of the jewellery shops by one of the salesman. I wouldn’t fall for this tourist trap, but as I had nothing better to do and wanted to be open to whatever the universe brings me, I just had a look. And we started to talk. And talk. And talk. He offered me to drink coffee and show me his storage. I followed him through the narrow streets until we arrived at a large attic in a big building. Dark and dusty. With inside a desk, 2 chairs and a lot of boxes. He asked me the regular question: “why are you in Israel?”.
I decided to tell him the true story. I’m here because of love. Because I’m madly in love with a guy who ran away from me. And I can’t let him go. I’m convinced he’s the one. My future husband. The father of my children. I told him a bit of our romantic back up story, on the beach of Cambodia where it all started. He started to tell me his story. When he was in his early twenties he met a Russian woman. They fell madly in love. Something he had never experienced before. They were creating their beautiful story until one day, her mum got ill and as it’s quite common in rural Russia, she felt she had to go home and take care of her mum. She had to move back to Russia. But all she wanted was for him to join.
He, as a Bedouin man, had just started his jewellery business in Jerusalem. On the business side things looked bright. And he didn’t want to give that up. He chose career and money above love.
They had a painful separation and both stayed behind with broken hearts. Although he escaped in business and tried to forget about it and was sure he was fine. Not too long after he found another wife, got married, and 15 years later divorced. One day he was thinking about his old Russian love. In the meantime Facebook was invented and he decided to type her name. He found her and wrote her a message. They started to talk. Deeply. The love was still there. But she was married with children. And couldn’t give up on that. It was too late. And until today, the Bedouin man lives with the story of regret, what if… What if I had chosen love instead?
Another part of the story was that while we were talking our energy got higher and higher. He was drinking coffee, I was drinking tea. And in the meantime we smoked cigarette after cigarette. Our conversations only got interrupted by his brother coming in with Chinese people who wanted to buy wholesale jewellery. The brother went back to the shop and my new friend quickly dealt with the Chinese people. He didn’t really care of selling to them, as all he wanted as for them to leave as quick as possible so he could go back to our bubble and continue our deep conversations. But to his great surprise, all the Chinese people bought effortless from him.
He was shocked as in the end it turned out to be the best sales day of his life. He was sure this was because of the energy we created together. And I knew it too. Energy is everything. High energy is a magnet and people want to be part of that. People buy your energy. Your energy is your unique selling point; that’s what makes you stand out from the competition. In the end he was so grateful for our meeting, that he gave me this silver necklace with a turquoise stone and the hamsa or the hand of Fatima. The Jewish and Arabic symbol for protection.
“Always chose love, and the money will follow”
