Last words

A friend's husband passed away on Saturday morning. He wasn't feeling well the night before, and after a trip to the clinic, he came home to sleep, as he normally did. He never woke up.

There are no words to comfort Norita. She didn't have the opportunity to say goodbye. To say sorry, to say thank you, to say words of love and affirmation to the person who was closest and most important in her life. It was too sudden. There were no signs. His last words to her were not significant.

Norita is now left with 4 young children to care for. The eldest boy is only 12 and the youngest is merely 3. It's hard enough being a mother, but to have to shoulder the responsibility of bringing the children up all alone seems most unbearable. It's so traumatic and I couldn't stop crying. I pray that Allah will give her the strength and will to carry on..

Being with her on Saturday made me think of how precious life is and how we take many things that we have for granted. How we take the people that we love for granted. I cannot imagine not having AZ or any of my kids in my life. I don't think I will have the strength to go on and face life without any of them. It makes me think of my own mortality. I so fear that my last words to them will not be ones of love and encouragement. I want them to always remember me as someone who love them utterly and unconditionally. That I am their biggest fan and most ardent supporter.

I pray to Allah that when my time comes, I will be given the opportunity to say sorry, thank you and goodbye. To say to AZ that he is the most important person in my life and how I love him so fiercely; to tell my kids how absolutely precious they are and how proud I am of each of them; to tell my family how special they are in my life and how much they each mean to me.

Death is certain. Every day is a gift from God. Use it wisely and spend it with the people that you love, doing the things that you love. Never go to bed angry. Make amends with your loved ones. Say sorry even if you know it's not your fault. Tell them you love them, every day. You never know if those words are the last ones you will ever hear or say.

After the Carnival 2010

Ever had SO MUCH to do that you don't have the time to get sick? Then, when everything is over, the flu comes on to you at double dose?

Well, the Carnival is over. Happy to report that it was a BLAST! Everyone had LOADS of FUN and we raised more money than we targeted. Alhamdulillah.. The Wall Climb was a real hit - more than 600 people went on it! The queues to the pony rides, paintball and haunted houses were endless up to the end of the Carnival. The PTA Kopitiam alone raised more than RM5,000! There were 64 food stalls and 10 games stalls - but this clearly wasn't enough to cater for the thousands of guests who came as most of the food were wiped out by 2pm! Wow! What a Fantastic day we had. God is Great and made it such a wonderful day with such good weather (it rained for about 10 minutes at about 10am and it stopped and cooled down the whole day!).

Then the flu came, full blast! (I've been staving it off the whole week last week - no time to get sick then!). My whole body ached the whole of Sunday (yep, getting old, definitely). Followed by an excruciating sore throat (voice is still scratchy) and a very heavy head. Had double dose of Vitamin C, been taking Actifast and lots of fluids. Feeling a bit better today.. phew!

But above all, we now have more money for the School Building fund and that's awesome! Alhamdulillah.. (^_^)

Lost Palm

I lost my phone yesterday. With it went over 2 years of special text messages that I have saved from AZ and encouraging words from friends and family. These are messages that I read again and again whenever I feel a little bit down. Now they are gone. It's heartbreaking.