The unrest in the Middle East has spread to the small multi-island country of Bahrain, off the east coast of Saudi Arabia and connected to it by a causeway. My husband and I were married in Bahrain in a Christian church.

We met in Saudi Arabia the year before through a mutual friend at the U.S. consulate where I was assigned by the U.S. State Department. My future husband, a fellow American expatriate, worked for an airline. Our whirlwind courtship included weekend runs in the desert with other expatriates. Or rather, he ran. I walked with the slower group over the goat trails wending through the rocky terrain.

When the courtship led to engagement, we decided to fly to Bahrain to be married, since no church existed in Saudi Arabia to marry us. We took our vows before an Egyptian pastor in a Christian mission begun in the 1800’s. We spent our honeymoon in the (then) relaxed atmosphere of the tiny island nation beside the Persian/Arabian Gulf.

I have a book spread before me, one of those coffee table types, that we bought then. One of its many photos illustrates Pearl Square, where the demonstrators now gather.