You calculate the total cost of all the expenses of this trip as your plane launches into the sky

 $50 because your suitcase was 8lbs over weight

Another $50 for the Nike’s you bought for yourself

$100 for the gifts you bought for your little cousins

Lets not even get started on the new Guess jeans you purchased

To impress your friends and family who you haven’t seen in 3 years

Or what about your new rolling duffle bag that chased you the whole way to the gate

These things aren’t free.

The expensive plane ticket that is flying you home to the motherland after three years

The taxi ride you have to take to get to your grandma’s house after you land

Each kilometer costing you 100 rial*

You can literally hear your money go down the drain with each street you pass.

Breaking out in a sweat because you need save your money

Handing over the money as you reach your destination

Looking up from the dirty taxi window to see

Your grandmother’s radiant face glowing from the second floor window,

Now that is priceless.

*rial is the basic monetary unit of Iran