18 Years Into Forever

It was August 1990 when I came back home from the States, after graduating and working there for a year. Months of spoiling myself followed - with Mak’s cooking, sleeping and enjoying my worry-free days. I however had to get my feet back on the ground when I got this job in KLJ, to report duty on February 18 1991.

I remember clearly the day when I first saw him. The memory so fresh, as fresh as the air in my garden after a heavy downpour. So clear that I could actually feel and watch the episode as it unfolds itself right before my eyes.

It’s true when people say that some moments in our lives come with vibrant colors and shades. This surely is one of my mine.

It was my third day of working when I first met him. I was walking along the office aisle when I saw this unfamiliar guy walking my way. I could swear that I heard my heart thumping fast as he was approaching me. What’s happening to me, I wondered, and as I struggled to keep the beat back to its normal tempo, I failed... my heart actually skipped a beat, when our eyes locked.

He came to my cubicle, normally during the end of the lunch hours, when our co-workers were not back yet. We’d talk until the first footstep was heard, then he’d leave. We were discreet about this, especially when I was new and he certainly didn’t want his colleagues to know about this, yet.

By the fifth month, we realized that the story of a man and a woman, became the story of OURS. And so we got engaged in July 1991.

And became husband and wife today, 18 years ago.

It’s only been 18 years, but I just can’t imagine my life without him - my rock and foundation. These 18 years of going through life’s ups and downs. How we spent hours making a decision that we hoped could change our child’s life, only to realize a year later that we made the wrong one. How we comfort each other with unspoken words. How we learned to accept fate, and welcome possibilities into our minds.

And what it means to be unconditionally loved.

We learned a great deal, Dear Hubby and I, even when cryings and laughters became synonyms. I’m so blessed to have him and the six beautiful children. Syukur Alhamdulillah. And a great life to be in. A life that allows you to float in the air so freely, fly into the moonlight so pale, run towards the sunset so full of uncertanties, or simply walk on the clouds where your heart is filled with utter joy. I’ve been there. And I can be there whenever I want to, coz I know he’ll be there to hold my hands, walking this life together. Or catch me when I fall.

Abang,
Happy Anniversary! I’m so thankful to Allah for giving me you. The one who completes me. Alhamdulillah.

September - The Month of Birthdays

UPSR is over on the 10th September and I’m totally at ease now. Not that I’ve been helping my Hanna with the revisions that much, but the suspense was there all the time. Now that it was over- phew.... LEGA! Time for Birthdays!

Here are the September Birthday Boys and Girls:
14th – Hanna’s 12th
16th – Dear Hubby’s 45th
20th – Hanis’s 4th
24th – My brother - Benjie’s 47th

Hanna’s Birthday:
So what’s my Hanna doing now? She’s enjoying every merdeka moment at home. Especially on the 14th – when it was her 12th birthday.

She got her presents the day before, but I still owe her something – that she could get her first experience in having her mani-pedi. Hasya and Haifa were home, but since it was supposed to be only Ibu-Hanna’s day out, I didn’t allow them to tag along. However, as we were leaving the house, I saw Haifa crying in the living room. Alahaaaii.. kesianlah pulak, so I said – OK lah.. Hasya and Haifa cepat siap!

We left for OU, and since I’ve already signed up with Missy Nails last year, I took them there. The girls were so excited to have their nails done. Hasya and Haifa were only having their manicure while Hanna and I would have our mani-pedi.

Hanna's having her pedicure

Hasya tengah syok

Excitednya budak pompuan nih!

Then off to MPH (as usual) and they got their books.

Takpa, ambik, ambik...Ibu belanja :)

I’ve already anticipated that it would be a long day in OU, so I made the reservations earlier at Delicious – just in case we wouldn’t make it for iftar at home. And I was right.


Here are my favorites – Fried Mushrooms and Spaghetti Bolognese with Seafood.

Sambal Udang served in jantung pisang... good idea kan?

The birthday Guy and Gal

Later that night, as usual, we had the cake-cutting ceremony.

Here’s Hanna with her birthday cake

Hanna, Ibu and Ayah’s do’a for you – May your life is filled with all greatness and happiness - outstanding performances, beautiful imaan, unclouded health and flourishing rezeki. Semoga Hanna menjadi anak yang solehah dan sentiasa berbudi-pekerti luhur. Ameen...

Dear Hubby's Birthday:
Yesterday was my man’s 45th birthday. I remember when we first met, he was only 26+. Gosh... how time flies!

Abang,
Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there's no one else above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away all my sadness
Ease my troubles that's what you do

For the morning sun in all its glory
Greets the day with hope and comfort too
You fill my life with laughter
And somehow you make it better
Ease my troubles that's what you do
There's a love that's divine
And it's yours and it's mine like the sun
And at the end of the day
We should give thanks and pray
To the one, to the one...

Happy Birthday Abang. I love you...

Manchester United Asia Tour 2009

No, I’m not a football fan. And I don’t watch any football matches on TV except when Dear Hubby persuaded me to sit with him in front of the TV while he watched the Chelsea dudes doing their things. I know a few of the Clubs names and their players, but that was it. My knowledge on footballs stops there.

So when the second match between Malaysia XI and Manchester United was announced after the cancellation of the MU-Indonesia match, Dear Hubby was initially keen to go but somehow changed his mind later. It was when we went to Bukit Jalil on Sunday for the girls’ swimming lessons that we decided to go.

You know why? The booth selling the match tickets was right in front of the National Aquatic Center! Eh, macam, nak suruh pegi saja! Dear Hubby asked the girls, siapa nak ikut? Only Hasya was interested. So after swimming a good number of laps, took a shower and performed his solat, Dear Hubby went outside and got into the queue. It apparently took him an hour to get to the counter, and bought the 3 tickets.

After coming back from work yesterday, Hasya came to me – Ibu, I have no Baju Merah lah Ibu. I said – Oh Hasya sokong MU lah ya, not Malaysia? I only got a sengih from her. Of course I didn’t have any with MU or Nike-AIG t-shirts for her to wear, so I took out her red F1 Ferrari t-shirt. At least she got to wear it this year since we didn’t get to watch F1 last April (..huhuhu..). Anyway, Hasya’s mother decided to be neutral – so she opted for brown! Malaysia boleh, MU pun boleh!

We were running late and had to have a quick bite of 1901 hot dogs while waiting for the green at the traffic light. Managed to get to the stadium in time... and here’s the first pic we took while at the gate entrance :

Hasya, Mr and Mrs Engku Emran and Dear Hubby (cropped!)

The big screen

Malaysia XI players on the big screen

MU players on the big screen

United before the game, Owen : 4th from left

O'Shea and Berbatov

Ferdinand, Rooney and Anderson

Macheda and Evra

Fletcher and Jonny Evans

**note : I'm not sure of all the names... belasah sajalah!

"Hmmmhh... how come there are only 5 balls? I thought we brought in 50?

Malaysia XI and United - grand entrance

Malaysia XI, Malaysia Boleh!

United We Stand

The players - Malaysia XI and MU

Giggs after taking the corner

O'Shea - taking the alcohol test - walking the line ..hehe..

SexyBack... oops... Tosic's back

Seconds before Owen scored a goal. You can see my excitement juz by looking at how 'sharp' this pic is!

Owen (again) after an unsuccessful attempt

Sir Alex, the Man!

Malaysian youngsters, post-game. Okaylah tu - First game 3-2, now 2-0. Yang mahal tu experience!

We left the Stadium Nasional Bukit Jalil at 11:15pm, reached our housing area at around 11:40pm and had a late night snack at Kayu for its Roti Telur Bawang.

Conclusion : I enjoyed the game. Hasya did too. She said that she didn’t know that football game could be that interesting. Dear Hubby said that the match wasn’t as good as the first match he saw on TV on Saturday, but still, it was not bad after all ....

What? No Wedding?

Dear Hubby received a wedding invitation card around two weeks ago. It was on his desk when he came into the office. He brought the card home and it was sitting there in the mengkuang basket for like more than a week before he called me up at home last Friday to check on the Bride-and-Groom’s names. I just texted him their names to which he replied – check the groom’s parents, coz both the bride and groom r not in the office email profile. So when I checked the card, I realized the groom’s mother was someone we actually knew. So that settled it.

And I didn’t look at the card until the assumed wedding day itself, which was on the day after, Saturday the 23rd.

I had my usual Saturday breakfast (hailam coffee and kaya-butter bun)with my Hanis at the nearby restaurant while waiting for my Hanna, Hasya and Haifa to finish up their taekwondo class. It occurred to me then that I didn’t really read what was on the card. What if it was not today, I thought. But I just brushed it aside, and reminded myself to check it when I got home.

Coming back, I had to fetch Dear Hubby from the car workshop where he sent his car to get all his tires changed. And I totally forgot about the card. I had a quick shower and got ready with my kenduri attire. My Hanis wanted to tag along, so we brought her with us. We knew we had to be back before 4pm since the girls would be having their swimming lessons at 4:30pm.

Anyway, off we went. The wedding was in Batu Caves. I looked at the card for the map. Frankly, it wasn’t me at all that day. The usual me would read the card from top to bottom and left to right. But nope, not this time. The map mentioned a Makro Hypermarket on the left of the road, but what we saw was a Tesco. After 10 minutes, we realized something wasn’t quite right. So I called our friend, the groom's mother. It went something like this:

Me : Hi Ros*****, this is DDI.
Ros : Oh... hi DDI. How are you?
Me : Ros.. we couldn’t find your house. I think we’re lost.
Ros : (now sounded confused...) which DDI is this?
Me : Z***’s wife.
Ros : Z***? (now she got more confused) oooh... you’re coming to the wedding...
Me : u-huh
Ros : The wedding’s next monthla... sorry...
Me : (terkedu and started laughing) Oh is it? (laugh some more) BTW, there was no Makro on the way here...
Ros : Hahaha....I made a mistake.... It’s Tesco actually. Sorry DDI, I’m out at the moment or else you can come over.
Me : TQ (still laughing) Our mistake pun... bye!

My eyes darted back to the card. The wedding’s on 27th of June! More than a month to go!!

I felt like a fool for not noticing. Who in the first place mentioned that the wedding was on Saturday? Dear Hubby admitted -he did- but he said wedding cards are usually given like two weeks prior to the wedding, so he just assumed that it was that Saturday... and... errr... expected his Dear Wife to do what she always did – READ!

Aiyo!

The good thing that came out of this (other than listening to my Hanis's rendition of London Bridge is Falling Down and Old McDonald in the car) was we got to try the new DUKE highway that people were talking about. Pretty fast. Impressive.

And so we had our lunch at JM Bariani House in Subang Jaya instead. Macam nasik kenduri jugak, kan?

The funny thing was - the couple with two kids on the next table started a conversation with Dear Hubby when I went to wash my hands. Since it was mentioned that we just came back from a kenduri, apparently Dear Hubby had to 'bohong sunat to save face’. He had to say that we tak puas makan at the wedding, rather than telling the nice couple that we were two meatheads who got the wedding date wrong! LOL!

Our 17th Wedding Anniversary!

Today marks our 17th Wedding Anniversary. Alhamdulillah.

There wasn’t anything special that we’ve done today, only the Sunday routine – sent the 3 girls for their squash practice and then to their taekwondo class.

Ayah suggested that we go out for a movie or have dinner just the both of us.... but I was a bit worried to leave the kids home alone when they will be having their finals tomorrow. I know that my requests or pleadings for them to study by themselves will fall on deaf ears especially when IBU is out of the house. Isshh....

So, although today’s a special day for the kids’ parents, it’s business as usual at home....

However, there are some things that I’d very much like to say here :

Ayah and the kids are truly the best things that ever happened to me.
Words aren’t enough to express how happy and fortunate I am to be truly blessed with six beautiful children and a terrific husband.

These past 17 years have seen Ayah and I coping with many happenings in life – Happiness, Sadness, Laughter, Crying… but no matter what happened, we emerged out stronger, firmer.... and most of all – closer.

We had a great 17 years together. Let’s hope that we’ll be blessed with more wonderful years to come :)

Happy 44th Birthday, my dear Hubby!

To the man who stole my heart 17 years ago – (it's still in his possession!)







May your 44th year be a wonderful one!

A special day like this
Is the perfect chance to show
That I love you very much
More than you'll ever know

So even when I forget
To say these words each day
Remember that I love you
More than I say

You brighten up my life
With memories and dreams
As the years pass
They get better it seems

You had my heart
Right from the start
The love for you in it
Will never part....


May all your wishes come true and may Allah gives us the best in everything, dear.





(poem source: http://www.things-to-say.com)