Al-Fatihah to Wan

My maternal grandma passed away last Thursday 17th June 2010. She was 80++, was still healthly and fit. Still going around minding her chores and could not keep still for long. I guess now I know what added up to my kids being like that (apart from the genes from Tebby that is).

I was not raised to be close to anyone, my mom, my dad, my siblings and my Wan included. But that's another chapter altogether. But still, I cried when I got the news. How fragile life is and how unprepared I am for all this, let alone, death. When they asked close relatives to have the last look, we all sobbed openly.

Wan left 7 children of her own and 3 step-children. She was married twice. Once with my mom's dad. With him she had 2 children. Then she married my late step-Aki, who had 3 children from his late wife at that time, and later they had 5 more. If I were to draw our family tree, it's gonna be huge, no doubt. And I haven't started on my father's side!

The day she finally left us, she went to 'paya' (paya is the word we use for abandon sawah. still rich with all sorts of fishes), like she normally did for as long as I can remember. She fell in knee-deep water and drowned. Thing was, my Wan consistently 'black-out' from time to time. Maybe, maybe, she blacked-out and fell. God Knows as she was alone at that time. She usually came back at around 6.00 to 6.30 each day but on that fateful day, she was not home when Maghrib was approaching. They (orang kampung) started searhing after prayers and found her close to Isya'.

Apapun, please recite Al-Fatihah for her (Munah Binti Yatim) and may she be amongst orang-orang yang beriman.

Atok Eksiden!

Balik kampung.

Melawat Atok (ayahnda tercinta). Minggu lepas ada kemalangan. Tangan kirinya terkena mesin rumput. Cedera jari tengah dengan jari manis. Jari tengah kena 10 jahitan. Jari manis 6 jahitan. Lucky thing, cuma flesh wound, tak kena tulang. Kalau dengar ceritanya, ngeri jugak. Flesh dangling and my mom had to put it back where it shoud, while waiting for my brother to bring them to hospital. He's recovering. Tho at times katanya rasa macam nak demam. My dad is gonna be 70 October this year. Pretty of good health he is, except the smoking that he is addicted to. Dia still boleh ke kebun, jolok kelapa, tebas rumput. In fact kalau tak buat apa-apa, dia akan jadi tak sihat.

The kids had good time balik kampung. Ample space to run about, abundant of activities to try out. Iman and Adam never tire of main air tempayan depan tangga. Kakak outgrew that already. Tetengah Iman bersiram, dia kata air ni bau taik ayam. True. Rupanya ada ayam dah berak dalam tu sebelum tu. Yikes! I, in the process of telling them to stop mandi air tu, terpijak taik ayam as well ha ha ha. Next day, Iman sekali lagi terpijak taik ayam. To investigate, he touched it and smelled it he he. Kakak, somehow, terpijak jugak taik ayam. I guess all the ayams were laughing at us sebab sebelum ni memang depa teruk kena lenjan dek Iman!

Anyway, I'm back in KL. Ayahnda sms-ed saying how sunyi it is when we've gone back to KL. I didn't know what to reply. But I did anyway. Nanti ada masa InsyaAllah kami balik lagi. After that I sort of regret the word 'ada masa'. I should not wait until there's time, I need to make time, don't you think?

Kakak, yang suka menyendiri

cik mat-cik mat saya yang riang main air tempayan

Iman, menyerang diri sendiri

kendian, serang Adam pulak..

Adam, lepas lenjun kena siram dek Iman

bet you do!

Last 2 weeks Adam tak pooh2 on daily basis as he normally did. Sampai hari ke-3, seperti biasa, kami yang pathethic ni pun ke klinik. Masa tunggu turn tu, I sat with Adam in my arms, beside one chinese lady. Then.. you know the usual drill, baby dah berapa bulan, anak no berapa ect. She couldn't believe Adam was only a month old that time (judging from his size) and she wondered how on earth I managed to push Adam out into the world. Relakslah kak, zaman ni kalau takleh keluar gitu, dr buat gini. Takleh push, kena sedut. Takmo keluar jugak, kena bukak tingkap! But that's not the point of my rambling today. Saya sangat kembang bila dia tak percaya saya sudah ada anak 3 orang. Ala-ala orang beranak sulung gitu. Kembang makcik. Lagi terkejut bila dapat tahu anak sulung saya dah masuk sekolah rendah. Lagi best bila dia tak percaya saya sudah mencecah 34 tahun. Tebby sengih2 aje. Tumpang kembang sekali kot. Maka balik lah kami dengan sebotol ubat pelembut najis untuk Adam bersama-sama diri yang terkembang-kembang!

Sebenarnya, it took me only 2 weeks to get back to my normal self seperti sebelum mengandung. Maksudnya di sini bukanlah diri saya yang asal sebelum mengandungkan Kakak. More like sebelum mengandungkan Adam. Maksudnya, berat badan saya sudah 45kg, perut saya sudah kempis namun masih ada buldge (yang saya dah ada sejak bersalinkan Kakak tahun 2001). Itu pun saya cuma berbarut dan bertungku untuk 2 minggu saja. Minggu lepas saya berurut. Wahhh.. kembang makin menjadi-jadi bila makcik tu puji badan saya tak gelebeh2. Masa tu dia mengurut kaki dan belakang saya. Bila dia tengok perut saya, she was like 'oh my God, teruknya stretch-mark you and the flab'. He.. he.. I expanded too much to accomodate anak-anak yang besar. 3.5kg, 3.3kg and juaranya 3.74kg. Makanya, segala kembang-kembangan sebelum ini teruslah menguncup semula! Mungkin nak menyedapkan hati saya, makcik urut tu kata itulah pengorbanan kita as mothers and we should be proud of being one. Yes, saya sangat pasti saya berbangga melahirkan 3 insan hebat di dunia ini tapi stretch mark itu?? Oh tidak.. saya pasti saya tidak begitu berbangga sehingga sanggup orang ramai melihat perutku itu sebagaimana saya tak kisah dilihat bersama-sama anak-anak saya di public. Kalau nak tau, si budak Iman tu kalau nampak perut saya, mesti dia kata 'eiiiiiii...' Bertuah punya anak.. kat situlah awak bersarang dulu taww..

Btw, Tebby's back from Singapore. Begnya yang 1/2 berisi sewaktu pegi, pulang dengan 3/4 berisi. Kira hebatlah tu untuk standard dia. Walaupun dia tidaklah membawa apa-apa untuk saya yang perlukan measurement, he got me something I so like. Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea. Suker.. suker. In fact itulah perfume yang menjadi hantaran sewaktu kami menikah tahun 2000 dulu. Bila saya sembur pasti saya teringat balik hari-hari dan waktu-waktu permulaan kami hidup bersama. (Saya masih belum boleh sembahyang, jadi ada fasa-fasa kenangan tu saya simpan aje jauh-jauh dalam hati he he). Dan Rocky Road. Yess.. sudah tinggal kecik aje. Tebby bought coloring pens for Kakak (which she painstakingly sorok sebab takut Iman kidnap) and a soft toy for Adam. Iman takde apa-apa sebab setiap kali kami keluar pasti dia 'pau' sepeket kereta mainan. Walaupun begitu, mainan Adam sudahpun selamat menjadi sebahagian hakmilik dia juga...

Kat belakang tu gambar Iman masa kecik.
Kat sebelah kanan tu novel Laskar Pelangi by Andrea Hirata.. I like

Adam tengah berlatih dok dalam car seat sambil temankan Ummi basuh pinggan kat dapur tu.

Tales of Things

We are supposed to be on leave today. But Tebby has a lunch date with our CEO. No kidding, the CEO himself. Before anyone raise eyebrow, it's not Tebby alone, he'll be with 20 others I think. And that would not be the only session. There's breakfast, lunch and even teh-tarik sessions. The ones with 1st class degree are called first and that's where my Tebby fits in the list. He was surprised himself as he got the scroll like 10 or 11 years ago. As for myself, I may not be even called at all he.. he.. But I don't mind receiving snacks to be frank.

Anyway.

The house is much quieter. Kakak is having fun with Atok and Wan in kampung. She has a list of 'to-do' already. Like today, she's going to have a hair cut. She's blessed with heavy, dead straight hair that I'd so much want to see she grows it long. But she's infested with head-lice that she gets from God-knows where. And tomorrow she's gonna be like a real kampung girl, following Atok and Wan to kebun and does the real 'gardening' there. I just hope she won't encounter pacat whatsoever or she'll scream her heart off and tells everyone about it for a long long long time. And God knows how many times I'll have to listen to her.

My dad underwent a minor tiny-miny eye surgery on Thursday last week. The liquid in his eyes has turned clowdy and he needs to have new lenses in his eyes. They just did a 1mm incision at the side of his eyes and did their business through there. I was well... errr.. tempted to correct my eyesight as well but it was like 4.7k per eyeball. Next week he'll be coming over to do the other eye.

My SIL is in Seoul now. A hard work worth the effort after-all. She and my brother joined ELKEN and since Day1 were really into the business. And she finally made it to Seoul. I joined well before them actually. But with small petty purchases just for myself, I am just where I was where MLM is concerned. Hey, at least I am a bit more energetic and fall sick rather not frequently. I hope she's going to have good times there.

Like always, some photos I took back in kampung.