Tabby Davoodi left Iran at the age of eight “at the height of the Iranian/Iraq war,” when there was a closed border policy and the government was tearing families apart. Many families faced a great deal of fear as they tried to emigrate from Iran. Tabby struggled to accept the fact that she and her family were moving to the Unites States. It was later on, as an adult, that she truly appreciated the difficult decision her parents made to leave Iran. The biggest hardship for her and her family was not necessarily the danger and the fear that came with leaving Iran, but it was the goodbyes and the farewells. It was difficult for Tabby to leave Iran because the night before she left, her mother told her to say her goodbyes to her cousins. For Tabby, “goodbye meant ‘see you later’ and see you in six months.” Never did she think that she would not again have the opportunity to visit her home country. One of the biggest struggles Tabby faced as a young child was not being able to say farewell to her friends. Her last day in Iran was spent at school where she was told by her mother to not tell any of her friends that she was leaving for America. It was a big burden for young Tabby to keep such a significant secret. Tabby stated that the responsibility of not telling her friends she was leaving made her mature faster than other Iranian immigrants and built a lot of character.

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