Meet Ali (Linda's grandchildren, part 1)

Ali Ismail Lester is my son and mom's first male and biological grandchild (Farah, my stepdaughter, was the first. But she won't let me publish any photographs of her, so her profile will have to wait until she lets me publish a photo, or I will eventually have to profile her without a photo).

Ali was born in November, 2003, in Arlington, VA. He is a Scorpio (as are Ragia and Farah—Argghh!) If you ask Ali how old he is, he will insist that he is sixteen. He will correct anybody who says that he is four.

Ali loves dinosaurs, elephants, lions, horses (he rides when he is in Egypt), and books.

Ali is fully bilingual in both Arabic and English.

Ali's mother is my wife, Ragia. He has Arab, Berber, Ancient Egyptian, and Turkish blood through his mother. From me he gets English, German, Irish, French, and Native American blood. Because his mother is African (Egyptian from Tunisian and Moroccan descent), he is an African American.

If the stories cherished by my wife's father's side of the family and my father's side of the family are true (I take a pinch of salt with the stories on my side), Ali is descended from both Britain's King George III on my side and from Islam's Prophet Muhammad.* He is also related to William Faulkner through my mother's side of the family.

A few days ago, I told Ali that I miss my aunts, Janet and Carla. I asked him: "Ali, do you miss Janet and Carla?" He said: "Yes, and Linda. I miss Linda a lot."

Good boy.

* From (get this,) both sides of the family! Ragia's father can trace his lineage to the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, and so can Queen Elizabeth II through her ancestor Edward IV (who is, apparently, my ancestor, too), who is descended from the Moorish rulers of Andalusia, who in turn are descended from the Prophet Muhammad (See http://www.juancole.com/2008/02/burkes-peerage-queen-elizabeth-ii.html if you care).