Yes, we were ... This series is a part of a larger project on which I have been working a little bit after arriving in Tehran. When my father passed away, I felt the urge to travel to Iran and see what it was that was holding him back from joining us permanently in Paris. He never wanted me to travel to Iran, despite the fact that he adored the country that had welcomed him and his family that had fled Stalin's regime many years ago.  He was too afraid that I might get into some sort of trouble and be arrested (I was the last of three daughters, the little one) or kidnapped or I don't know what. Once phenomenon that struck me right from the beginning and still continues to startle me, is the short distance between living creatures and death.  Death is everywhere, very close, and people are used to it being so close, and are not shocked by it, almost as though they praise death more than they cherish life.