Kisses from a Distance: An Immigrant Family Experience by Raff Ellis

Foreword     11
Family Tree     14
The Hobeiches
A man is not a stranger because you do not know him     19
I am in the west, but they call to me from the east     27
If you marry well, you should be able to treat her well     33
One's feet carry him only to places he wants to be     39
Things to come are nearer than things that are gone     47
She finds fault in a bird even when it's flying     51
A noble person is noble though privation touches him     59
Unless a crisis reaches its limit, it cannot recede     65
The last resort is the hangman's noose     69
The millstones rumble after the wheat is ground     77
The day may pass but the evil thereof does not     83
The camel's intention is one thing, the camel-driver's something else     87
The beginning of a quarrel is a spark, the end is flames     93
He sold the bear's skin before he shot the bear     99
The Kmeids
A mule has to wait till the grass grows     107
If you wish to tell lies, be far away from those you lie about     117
The kindred of the spade are easily recognizable     123
A man is worth what his clothes are     131
Carthago delenda est     141
His tongue fails when it comes to his own praise     149
The sky was dark, but they knew not the storm     155
The world sides with he who is left standing     161
He who experiences the good should expect the better     167
A lover of his money has no lover     173
The homeland yearns for its sons     179
The Hobeiche-Kmeid Union
Ask your heart, and it will tell you what to do     189
He who wants to eat honey should bear the stings of bees     195
When an object is kept from the eyes, the heart forgets it     201
A trade without its master soon disintegrates     209
To go away is within one's will but to return is not     215
Pride was the cause of the angel's fall from heaven     221
A husband is not a flower with which to decorate your head     227
Life is full of misery, and most is caused by women     233
A rightful claim does not die with the passage of time     237
To expect death is worse than death     241
That which is hidden is that which never takes place     245
The son of the brother becomes the enemy of the sister     251
The man makes the money, but the woman builds the home     259
He who lengthens his stride, falls down      267
If partnership was a blessing, every two men would marry one woman     277
When livelihoods were distributed, one was not satisfied     291
Illustrations
el Khazen - Hobeiche Family Tree     14
Kmeid Family Tree     15
Warrior Sheikh Yousef Hobeiche     76
Sister Miriam & Angele Hobeiche     98
Young Toufic Kmeid     122
Christine with husband Rebhan Abdoo Kmeid     148
Toufic and his 1923 Buick Roadster     172
Toufic & Angele on their wedding day     194
Zakia, Emily, & Angele in Marseilles     200
Triumphant Toufic returns to the US     208
Angele in Marsielles     214
Sheikh Yousef with his second wife, Nahde     232
Brothers Khalil & Yousef Hobeiche     250
Adela el Khazen Hobeiche     258
Toufic Traad Ellis, circa 1935     276
Angele Hobeiche Ellis, circa 1960     290
The first three Ellis children. From left, Theresa, Raffee, Delo     300
The author during the Korean War, 1952     312
Afterword     301
Bibliography     306
Acknowledgements     307
Index     308
The Author     312