The Lesson of 2’s.

Thankfully, after that first emotionally overwhelming day in Istanbul, my emotions settled. I was finally able to be present- to actually enjoy the trip with my friends.

This time, I explored Istanbul more deeply. We went to the Bosphorus area, which I hadn’t visited on my previous trip. It was beautiful.

We went to so many mosques and tried our best to pray on time while being out and exploring the city.

I can't even keep track of how many different mosques we prayed at.

Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia

Suleymaniye

Ortakoy

You name it..

We went to cafés. Shopping centers. Little streets and hidden corners.

But as we went continued exploring each day, I was noticing something interesting.

Infact, my friends started noticing this too.

We were going to each place twice.

At first, it felt funny. Like a cute coincidence.

But after it kept happening over and over again, I realized- this isn’t random.

This feels like a lesson disguised as “cute coincidences.”

If we went to a mosque, somehow we’d end up there again- without planning to.

If we visited a store, we’d circle back to it.

If we ordered one meal, somehow two would come out.

Tourist attractions.

Restaurants.

Even walking paths.

Any place. You name it.

And it happened so consistently that even my friends started pointing it out. Whatever we did in Istanbul… it was happening twice. Without us even trying

It got so funny that we even ended up praying our namaz twice.

One day we went to the beautiful Hagia Sophia to pray Asr namaz. We ended up praying it twice accidentally.

It's so hilarious.

I don’t know exactly what this lesson means yet. But it’s obvious it’s pointing toward something- something about repetition, about things happening twice… or maybe returning somewhere twice.

I’m not sure.

Let's see.