23 Years is a Long Time

I woke up in the Middle East this morning. In Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, to be precise. This isn’t the first time I have been in the Middle East. I’ve been to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt and Bahrain. Although there are no stamps in my passport for any of those countries. That’s because I went to those countries in 1990 and 1991 during Operation Desert Shield/Storm.

23 years is a long time. I left Saudi Arabia on April 14, 1991. And I was prepared then to say that I would never go back to the Middle East. In fact, until a few months ago I would have told you that the only country in the Middle East I would ever willingly visit, unless things changed dramatically, was Israel. Obviously, now I find myself in the Middle East again.

It’s really an interesting experience. So many things are similar. The smells and sounds are the same. The color of the sky, the way the town and the horizon and the colors look. They are different here. It’s more brown, less green, of course. But r…