She was the one that would make the turkey every year, and we would all eat at her house. It was the one time that we ate turkey, and what made me feel most broken/honored was that it fell to me to make the turkey.
My aunt had battled cancer for nearly the past ten years and her health started to decline in October. Every time her health had fallen, she had gotten better again, but this time was evidently different.
She was my star, and she named me. She also practically raised me, as I spent most of my childhood with her. The thing that I am most thankful for is the love that I received from her (I was her favorite nephew), for which I am forever indebted to her. She had a good life, being one of the most prominent Biochemists of her generation, and a Muslim woman from South Asia at that.
She went to college early, and got her PHD super-fast at Glasgow. She worked for the Watson at Cold Spring Harbor and she met Barbara Mclintock (the lady that discovered transposable elements-"jumping genes"). She was professionally successful, and she was also very charitable. She gave to others out of her wealth, knowledge, and service. She was there for the family and the community and her friends. Most of all, she was there for me.
She always encouraged my interests. When I was little and my cousins called me "gay" for liking to cook, garden, and make crafts (of course they were correct)-she told me, "Don't care what they say, the pursuit of knowledge is very important, as long as you don't hurt anyone." This philosophy really shaped who I have become. She encouraged me.
My parents have always been there for me, and they are good parents, but they never encouraged me like she did.
I thank Allah most high for her, and I pray that her stations are always elevated.
Thank you for reading this, I felt it necessary to write my feelings down.
Sometimes I forget that she is gone, and then I remember, and that stings the most.
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| Dr. Sayeeda Bakhtiar Zain , on the night of a full lunar eclipse, at the banquet for a symposium she organized on "New Molecular Methods to Combat Human Disease." |
