Recently we had our living room floor replaced and refinished and thought an area rug would complete the decor. Not finding anything from large retailers despite seemingly endless selection, on a whim we visited a specialty oriental rug dealer nearby. First we had a bit of sticker shock, but as the young but very friendly and knowledgable salesperson leafed through the selection, one rug caught our eye immediately. Since the living room is somewhat oddly shaped, with a diagonal wall, we had been looking at octagonal or round rugs, which seemed to fit better than rectangular or square ones. This one rug was round, about the right size, exquisitely designed, and even had dominant colors that we thought would complement the colors we were planning for the room. The salesperson explained that it was hand-made in Afghanistan, with particularly fine weave and high quality. Despite the somewhat eye-watering price, this piece seemed uncannily perfect; we had fallen in love and ended up buying it.

Now the story gets perhaps a bit more interesting. While paging through the pile of rugs, another one caught my eye, though not one which was appropriate for our living room. In this case the design reminded me of a rug already in the house. My parents bought this rug while they lived in Pakistan and brought it with them when they came to the U.S. It has been in our house since they passed away, but a bit out of the way in an upstairs bedroom. Since I thought there were echoes of the same design in the rug at the shop, I mentioned it to the gentleman who delivered our new rug — who is the owner of the shop — and he agreed to look at it. I did not expect his reaction, thinking he might say it was not particularly special, made for tourist trade.

It turns out that it too was hand-made in Afghanistan, and confirmed to be about the right age, mid-20th century, and very good quality. It was touching to see this ex-pat Afghani gentleman talking about the particular local tribe known for the style of the rug, the specific locally sourced dyes used for some of the details, and his pride in the workmanship and durability of these rugs. He did mention that it needed cleaning, not surprising since it sat in my parents' house for many decades, undoubtedly never cleaned, and had some minor wear and moth damage. He also mentioned that their store does clean rugs like this and even does repair by hand. Well, it wasn't too hard to agree to have the rug cleaned and restored.

I feel honored to have such an item, a connection to a very different world, the place of my birth, though not my ancestry.