Leaving Iraq— Riverbend's Departure

It was inevitable. As a reader of her blog, I often worried that her latest posting would be the last we’d ever hear of her, so this is a better outcome.

Riverbend is leaving Iraq. Her family, like most of the middle class in Baghdad, has decided to emigrate. Wish them luck and Godspeed to a safer place.

On the one hand, I know that leaving the country
and starting a new life somewhere else- as yet
unknown- is such a huge thing that it should
dwarf every trivial concern. The funny thing is
that it’s the trivial that seems to occupy our lives.
We discuss whether to take photo albums or
leave them behind. Can I bring along a stuffed
animal I've had since the age of four? Is there
room for E.'s guitar? What clothes do we take?
Summer clothes? The winter clothes too? What
about my books? What about the CDs, the baby
pictures?

The problem is that we don't even know if we'll
ever see this stuff again. We don't know if
whatever we leave, including the house, will be
available when and if we come back. There are
moments when the injustice of having to leave
your country, simply because an imbecile got it
into his head to invade it, is overwhelming. It is
unfair that in order to survive and live normally,
we have to leave our home and what remains of
family and friends… And to what?

It's difficult to decide which is more frightening-
car bombs and militias, or having to leave
everything you know and love, to some
unspecified place for a future where nothing
is certain.