Meet Shakib

UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION
“COFFEE TALKS” SPEAKER’S SERIES
celebrates International Education Week

Imagine that you are an Afghani teen who has never known life without war.
You are given the opportunity to live in the United States for a year 

with the intention to develop your leadership skills 

and return to Afghanistan to make a difference.
What would you do with that 

one precious year?
 

Meet Shakib, a high school junior, who is making the most of his year as an International Exchange Student through the YES: Afghanistan* program. Shakib will speak about his experiences growing up in war-torn Afghanistan, the cultural differences he has encountered in the U.S., and his hopes for a brighter future for his countrymen.



Shakib will be joined by his host parents, Jon and Maureen, who will speak about their experience as surrogate parents to this extraordinary young man and their choice to create an interfaith household where a Christian, a Jew, and a Muslim live in harmony.



A representative of American Councils for International Education will also be on hand to answer questions about the YES* program and the opportunity to host students from Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine.


When: Tuesday, November 16th at 7:00 pm
Where: The New York Deli
25 N. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA  91103

Suggested donation: $10 adults / $5 for students

Proceeds support the work of the United Nations Association.

For reservations and information contact (626) 449-1795 

or visit www.unapasadena.org

Parking is available just north of the Armory for a flat fee of $6.00.

*The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program was established in October, 2002, to provide scholarships for high school students (15-17 years) from countries with significant Muslim populations to spend up to one academic year in the US. Students live with host families, attend high school, engage in activities to learn about American society and values, acquire leadership skills, and help educate Americans about their countries and cultures.

Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?

Today is Jon’s birthday. He is 64.

It seems like only yesterday that we walked down the aisle together. But I guess it’s been a while.

On our wedding day in 1993, 64 seemed so far away. Who knew that at age 64, Jon would be parenting a 17-year-old Afghani boy? Or that he would be training for his 4^th full marathon, having graduated from running half marathons (13.1 miles) to the full 26.2 at age 60?

That I would still be in love with this man 17 years later was never in question.

I often say that I married the best man on the planet, and I mean it. For sheer goodness, I have yet to encounter his equal. Jon Charles is kind-hearted, generous and good-natured. He loves people, and he lets it show.

Marriage to Jon has exceeded my expectations. In him I have a partner and a best friend. He does the laundry, pays the bills, manages the auto maintenance, picks up the dry cleaning, shops for groceries, and runs me a bath when I can barely move another muscle. And he is so cheery about all of it.

Jon is a fabulous father. No, Shakib didn’t come to us in the usual way, and yes, we got to skip diapers, the terrible twos, broken bones, fistfights, and a host of other childhood milestones. But he is a teenager and there are challenges. We jumped into the middle of Shakib’s life, and I cannot imagine anyone I would rather have taken that leap with than Jon.

When Shakib was fasting during Ramadan, it was Jon who arose daily at 3:40 am to make him breakfast – for an entire month. And it is Jon – the morning person – who now gets up with Shakib at 6:00 am and sees to it that he gets off to school on time.

Because of Jon, I have a musical life.  He is a gifted musician and arranges and orchestrates music for television, films, and live performances.  He started out in his early 20s as the arranger for the Dick Cavett Show – working with living legends night after night – and recently finished his sixth season as an orchestrator on American Idol. You can read his professional bio here.

Not only do we attend wonderful shows and concerts, but we also share a love for good melodies and clever lyrics. What a boon to have married a straight guy who knows the lyrics to so many Broadway tunes!

Rarely does a day go by that we do not sing to each other. Sometimes one of us makes up lyrics to an existing song to fit a situation or topic of conversation; sometimes, we just make up melodies from scratch. Mine are usually terrible, Jon’s often brilliant.

Jon volunteers his time with the local United Nations Association where he served for 6 years as Board Secretary and is extremely active on committees. He has served as a precinct inspector, managing our local polling place and greeting voters with a smile, every election day, large or small, for 18 years. And he serves on the Board of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers, where he is also a past president.

My husband has other skills. One taste of his homemade cheesecake and you will want to marry him too. He is has a talent for drawing.  And he can name all Seven Dwarfs.

Anyone who knows Jon would acknowledge that he is very funny. And he is. But beyond that, Jon has a sense of humor about himself, about life, and about the world. It is hard to stay angry or upset around him and easy to laugh at yourself. In his world, all really is well.

For our wedding day, Jon wrote string quartet arrangements to be played before and after the ceremony including a phenomenal arrangement of Prince’s Kiss. Yes, with cello, viola and violins.

I’ll never forget walking up the aisle toward my future husband to a lively string arrangement of Chapel of Love as our wedding guests spontaneously broke into song: "Going to the Chapel and we're gonna get married..."

After the ceremony, we walked down the aisle as husband and wife to Jon’s arrangement of the Beatles’ When I’m 64.

So here we are, 17 years later, and one of us is indeed 64. Do I still need Jon? You bet.

So now it’s my turn to ask, with a little over 13 years to go, Jon:

When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now,
Will you still be sending me a valentine,
Birthday greeting, bottle of wine?

If I'd been out till quarter to three,
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me?

Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four?

You'll be older too…

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say.
Yours sincerely, Wasting Away

Give me your answer. Fill in a form.
Mine for evermore?
Will you still need me?

Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four?